Menace of Our Time

"Leonard's study of unparalleled political repression is both comprehensive and engrossing. For over sixty years, mass surveillance, sustained persecution, and frequent imprisonment were all used to silence American communists and, more broadly, cripple left-wing activism. Essential reading for students of American political history." - Phillip Deery (author of Red Apple: Communism and McCarthyism in Cold War New York) "This comprehensive and sprightly story suggests that the ascendancy of today's right wing is based in no small measure on their obsession of the previous epoch—anticommunism—which savaged progressivism under the guise of fighting Communists. This book is an important contribution." - Gerald Horne (author of Black Liberation/Red Scare: Ben Davis and the Communist Party) "The sordid story of the intense and prolonged repression of American communists has never been told better. Leonard's compelling and highly illuminating book is a must-read for everyone interested in US political history." - Geoffrey Roberts (author of Stalin's Library: A Dictator and His Books)