Dying for Joe McCarthy's Sins: The Suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt - Softcover

McDaniel, Rodger

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0983027595 ISBN 13: 9780983027591

Publisher: Wordsworth, 2013

Synopsis

"Joe McCarthy's Cold War witch-hunts targeted people with same-sex attractions as much, maybe more than those with Communist sympathies." This introduction to Rodger McDaniel's book sets the stage for a story of the most wretched political blackmail in American history. Lester Hunt was the kind of person we'd all want to be a part of our national government. Kind and empathetic, honest and hardworking, he was as one of his eulogists said, "ill prepared for the cruel, brutal, rough aspect of national partisan politics." Hunt committed suicide in his Senate office in 1954. His death was tragic enough. Yet readers will find even more about which to lament reading of his extraordinary life. Dying for Joe McCarthy's Sins is not only Lester Hunt's story. It's the story of America during the virulent years of the early Cold War, of McCarthyism, and the way the voluntary death of a Wyoming senator helped to bring the curtain down on Joe McCarthy.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

PRAISE FOR
Dying For Joe McCarthy's Sins

"Rodger brings to this book the fine skills he learned in all of the paths of his own journey. Beyond the rare ability to research, investigate and write a gripping story, Rodger also brings a level of empathy to Lester Hunt's life story that he richly deserves.The result is this book that finally offers Lester Hunt's remaining family some form of justice - though belated." former US Senator Alan K. Simpson 

"Rodger writes with a keen sense of history and the lessons it can teach all of us. As Theodore Roosevelt would recognize, Rodger has been in the harsh arena of politics. His writing of Lester Hunt's ordeal demonstrates empathy with an appreciation for the ironies of life." former Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal

"This well-written book tells the story of Lester Hunt's amazing life and agonizing death, a "must read," for Wyoming folks and all Americans concerned about the lack of civility in politics today." Bill Sniffin - long-time Wyoming journalist and author

Review:

"Dying for Joe McCarthy's Sins" reads like a page-turning novel. Uncovering one of history's untold stories, Rodger McDaniel poetically and graciously traces stories of homosexuality, McCarthyism, civil rights, and government corruption, and more. McDaniel's work is wonderfully researched...this book is a must read. It hooks the reader using creative writing techniques, while at the same time is grounded in primary and secondary sources." Annals of Wyoming History December 2013

"If you kept just one piece of literature on your bookshelf to remind you of this corner of the world, what would it be?" The list of 13 books includes Owen Wister's "The Virginian," Annie Proulx's "Close Range: Wyoming Stories," and "Dying for Joe McCarthy's Sins-The Suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt." The book "tells  the story of Senator Lester Hunt, who ...caught in the web of Joe McCarthy's political reign of terror...killed himself. This story had been lost in the annals of Wyoming history, and (McDaniel's book) is the first complete retelling." Wyoming Tribune-Eagle July 28, 2013

About this edition

• Publisher: Wordsworth
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0983027595
• ISBN 13: 9780983027591
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 364