Will I love The Inquisition in Hollywood?

I always like books that trace the origins of a political movement, because they almost always go farther back than we think.

This one follows the suppression of radical activity in Hollywood from the beginning of the Great Depression of the 1930s, a time that also saw the founding of the Writers’ Guild, a union that gave writers some actual power in an industry that ran on power and often regarded writers as disposable. But even the Writers Guild couldn’t defend those accused of communist sympathies by their government.

It is significant in our current era that no Hollywood Communist,… show more.

When I was growing up there was, amongst enthusiasts of American film, much excited if not always well-informed discussion of the Hollywood Blacklist. This was the book that first provided chapter and verse, documenting the phenomenon and placing it in the context of American history, the politics of Hollywood, the industry unions, and the role of the studios from the 1930s onward. There is important research on key organizations such as the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, and the Committee for the First Amendment. This is still the best, most empirically grounded, and most comprehensive treatment… show more.

Originally published in 1979, Ceplair and Englund’s magisterial book examines the development and repression of left-wing radicalism within Hollywood from the early Depression era to the final years of the blacklist. Over more than 500 pages, this rigorously researched and illuminating study details the political battles that led to the establishment of the blacklist after World War 2, inspired especially by the formation of the Screen Writers Guild by progressive activists in the 1930s. With most of the Hollywood Ten being writers as well as current or former Communists, the authors regard the blacklist as “an institutionalized, politicized mechanism for… show more.