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Here you’ll find books and movies about the Red Scare, the era Dalton Trumbo described as “The Time of the Toad.” 

BOOKS

Red Scare – Memories Of The American Inquisition, an Oral History by Griffin Fariello. All the fear, outrage and corrosive paranoia of the 50’s Great American Commie Hunt, in the words of the people whose lives were destroyed.

Tender Comrades – A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist, by Patrick McGillian. Another essential oral history of the Red Scare, focused on screenwriters, directors and actors who were persecuted for their political beliefs.

Show Trial – Hollywood, HUAC and the Birth of the Blacklist, by Thomas Doherty. Great, bloodcurdling cultural history, focused on the 1947 “Hollywood Ten” HUAC ‘show trial.’

MOVIES

Trumbo. A recent film about the life of blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. A good introduction of what the Hollywood 10 went through (and how they outlasted the bastards).

The Front. Tragedy as comedy. Written, directed by and starring blacklisted filmmakers from the 1950’s. Woody Allen plays a “front,” selling the work of blacklisted writers. Full of absurd (and true) moments from “the time of the toad.”