Blacklisted! Hollywood, the Cold War, and the First Amendment chronicles a shameful period in American history when tensions between the Soviet Union and the US were at an all-time high. A “Red Scare” was sweeping America, where supposed communist threats were everywhere. Under the misguided leadership of Senator Joe McCarthy, the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities was formed to investigate those threats. Author Larry Dane Brimner tells the story of 19 men, all from the film industry, who are summoned to appear before the committee on Un-American Activities. The men believe that the committee’s investigations into their personal associations and their political views are a violation of their First Amendment rights. As they refuse to answer the committee’s questions, they are cited for contempt of Congress and blacklisted.
Brimner uses primary sources, including numerous black and white photographs, to outline the plight of these accused men.

Blacklisted! would make an excellent supplemental reference in the study of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, and well as for US History units on McCarthyism. Blacklisted! is one of several Social Justice titles by this author. Others include Birmingham Sunday, Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttleworth and Eugene “Bull” Connor, Twelve Days in May: Freedom Ride 1961, and We Are One: The Story of Bayard Rustin.