Hate In The Time Of Old Movies

The Red Scare didn't target subversives—it targeted the biggest prize of all: Hollywood. Between 1945 and 1955, post-war America was strangled by a manufactured Commie panic fueled by self-serving politicians, media, movie moguls, and clergy.

In Hate In The Time Of Old Movies*, acclaimed classic film analyst Bernie Dowling exposes the unjustified vengeance of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in its relentless crusade against the film industry.

Dowling uncovers the shadow history of this era, documenting:

• The Hollywood Blacklist: The unlawful surveillance orchestrated by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI.
• Political Witch Hunts: The paranoid, fabricated crusades of Senator Joseph McCarthy, abetted by his brilliant, scruple-free legal hatchet man, Roy Cohn.
• Wider Targets: Campaigns that extended to rainbow community members in the civil service, costing thousands their jobs—before McCarthy's overreach against the U.S. Army finally brought him down.

Stripping Away the Myths Featuring over 200 historical images and razor-sharp archival quotes—from blacklisted icons such as Albert Maltz and Lillian Hellman, to committee defenders such as Ayn Rand and Walt Disney—this book reveals a simple truth: they never proved a Communist conspiracy in Hollywood. They didn't have the time; they were too busy inventing one.

Bringing his signature gallows humor and a film-noir perspective to one of America’s most shameful political chapters, Dowling exposes a panicked political class that resorted to totalitarian tactics. Ultimately, all they really needed to find subversives was a mirror.

*This is the third volume in the Hollywood Snapshots series.