A Gathering of Fugitives - Softcover

Anhalt, Diana

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1931122032 ISBN 13: 9781931122030

Publisher: Archer Books, 2002

Synopsis

Cultural Writing. "A fascinating exhumation of a little-known group of American communists-idealists, artists, spies and Hollywood types-who migrated to Mexican exile in the late 1940s and 1950s. Diana Anhalt tells their story-and her own-sympathetically but not uncritically"-Dr. Harvey Klehr. "Diane Anhalt's lively personal account introduces us to the heretofore unknown story of this struggling community.It's an important story-and Anhalt tells it well-reminding us of the personal costs that political repression can inflict upon its victims and their families"-Dr. Ellen W. Schrecker.

About this title

Reviews

During the McCarthy era in the 1950s, over 60 American families involved in left-wing, Socialist, and Communist activities moved to Mexico. Anhalt's own family settled in Mexico City, and her parents never returned home, nor did they explain to her why they had left the United States. This engaging first book, based on interviews with expatriates, sheds light on this little-known story. Anhalt discusses the reasons why these people left America and how they supported themselves in a very different society. She also presents American and Mexican efforts to spy on, discredit, and, in some cases, deport or kidnap individuals for trial in America. Notable people such as Albert Maltz and Dalton Trumbo appear, but the book concentrates on the lives of idealistic souls forced to leave home owing to their beliefs. While not a scholarly study of the subject, this is an excellent addition to the literature of Cold War America. For all libraries. Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ., Parkersburg
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Archer Books
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1931122032
• ISBN 13: 9781931122030
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 246