Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. xviii, 345 pages ; illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

1. "The McCarthy-era witch hunts marked the culmination of an anticommunist crusade launched after the First World War. With Bolshevism triumphant in Russia and public discontent shaking the United States, conservatives at every level of government and business created a network dedicated to sweeping away the 'spider web' of radicalism they saw threatening the nation. In this groundbreaking study, Nick Fischer shines a light on right-wing activities during the interwar period. Conservatives, eager to dispel communism's appeal to the working class, railed against a supposed Soviet-directed conspiracy composed of socialists, trade unions, peace and civil liberties groups, feminists, liberals, aliens, and Jews. Their rhetoric and power made for devastating weapons in their systematic war for control of the country against progressive causes. But, as Fischer shows, the term spider web far more accurately described the anticommunist movement than it did the makeup and operations of international communism. Fischer details how anticommunist myths and propaganda influenced mainstream politics in America, and how its ongoing efforts paved the way for the McCarthyite Fifties--and augured the conservative backlash that would one day transform American politics"--

Subject

1. Myth > Political aspects
2. Conservatism
3. Propaganda
4. Anti-communist movements
5. United States
6. Myth > Political aspects > United States > History > 20th century
7. POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Communism & Socialism
8. Conservatism > United States > History > 20th century
9. Propaganda > United States > History > 20th century
10. POLITICAL SCIENCE / Labor & Industrial Relations
11. 1900-1999
12. History
13. Anti-communist movements > United States > History > 20th century
14. United States > Politics and government > 1933-1945
15. Politics and government
16. Antikommunismus
17. United States > Politics and government > 1919-1933
18. HISTORY / United States / 20th Century

Genre/Form

1. History.

Contents

1. Chapter 1. The Origins of American Anticommunism, ca. 1860-1917 -- Chapter 2. The First World War and the Origins of the Red Scare -- Chapter 3. Here Come the Bolsheviks! : The Russian Revolution and the Red Scare -- Chapter 4. The Spider Web Chart -- Chapter 5. Mapping a Political Network : The Anticommunist Spider Web -- Chapter 6. John Bond Trevor, Radicals, Eugenics, and Immigration -- Chapter 7. Jacob Spolansky : The Rise of the Career Anticommunist Spook -- Chapter 8. The Better America Federation and Big Business's War on Labor -- Chapter 9. Political Repression and Culture War -- Chapter 10. Anticommunism and Political Terror -- Chapter 11. The Mythology of Anticommunism -- Chapter 12. Antidemocracy and Authoritarianism -- Conclusion: Legacies of the Spider Web -- Afterword.

Call number

1. JFE 16-8888

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Author

1. Fischer, Nick, author.

Title

1. Spider web : the birth of American anticommunism / Nick Fischer.

Publisher

1. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2016.

Type of content

1. text

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. volume

Bibliography

1. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chronological term

1. 1900-1999

LCCN

1. 2016003063

ISBN

1. 9780252040023 hardcover acid-free paper
2. 0252040023 hardcover acid-free paper
3. 9780252081514 paperback acid-free paper
4. 025208151X paperback acid-free paper
5. 0252098226
6. 9780252098222

Research call number

1. JFE 16-8888