"Politically and socially, the decade from 1947 to 1956 marked an era of repression and fear. McCarthyism was a practice named for the blustery U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. Known for his reckless and unsubstantiated accusations, he led a campaign to root out real and imagined "subversives" in American society. Packed with enlightening primary and secondary source material, McCarthyism and the Red Scare examines topical issues to help readers think critically about such concepts as freedom, Constitutional rights, blacklisting, and personal and state ideology."--Provided by publisher.