| Description |
xix, 378 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Contents |
Prologue : against the wall -- The fine gold of untainted Americanism -- A democracy gone mad -- The heel of the government -- A peculiar sort of mental hysteria -- The gravest menace to the country -- A skimming of the great American melting-pot -- A lawless government -- Grave abuses and unnecessary hardships -- The utmost degree of secrecy -- A Jap is a Jap -- Scare hell out of the country -- A neurotic nightmare -- There were many wrecked lives -- There are no rules -- We never gave it a thought -- Epilogue : an aggressive assault on civil liberties |
| Summary |
In this wide-ranging history, Jay Feldman takes us from the run-up to World War I and its anti-German hysteria through the September 11 attacks and Arizona's current anti-immigration movement. What we see is a striking pattern of elected officials and private citizens alike using the American people's fears and prejudices to isolate minorities, silence dissent, and stem the growth of civil rights and liberties. Whether it's the post-World War I persecution of radicals; the Depression-era deportations of Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans; the World War II internment of 112,000 ethnic Japanese along with thousands of German and Italian aliens; the Cold War campaigns against Communists, gays, and civil-rights activists; or the Vietnam-era COINTELPRO operations, we see how economic, military, and political crises have been used to curtail the rights of supposedly subversive minorities. Rather than treating this history as a series of discrete moments, Feldman shows how these tendencies have been part of a continuous vein that runs through American life, and gives us a potent reminder of how, even in America, democracy and civil liberties are never guaranteed.--From publisher description |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-353) and index |
| Subject |
Civil rights -- United States -- History.
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Dissenters -- United States -- History.
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Marginality, Social -- United States -- History.
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Hysteria (Social psychology)
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| Genre/Form |
History.
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| LC no. |
2010039998 |
| ISBN |
9780375425349 |
|
0375425349 |
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