Cornelis A. van Minnen, and Sylvia L. Hilton, eds., Political Repression in U.S. History. Amsterdam: VU University Press, European Contributions to American Studies, 68, 2009. 242 pp. ISBN: 978 90 8659 319 4 (ECAS no. 68)
* Revisiting the Historical Role of Political Repression in the United States. Sylvia L. Hilton and Cornelis A. van Minnen. 7
* Suppressing Dissent in the Early Republic: Adams, Jefferson, the Alien and Sedition Acts, and ‘the Revolution of 1800’. Serge Ricard. 27
* Repression and Exclusion as Keys to Liberty and Democracy. The Political Thought of James Fenimore Cooper. Thomas Clark. 41
* Political Repression during Reconstruction: A Louisiana Case Study: Natchitoches, 1866-1878. Adam Fairclough. 57
* Southern White Reaction against Interracial Cooperation, 1900-1930. Mark Ellis. 69
* Repression at Home, Liberation Abroad: Wilsonianism and American Anticommunism, 1912-1920. Alex Goodall. 87
* Censorship in World War I: The Action of Wilson’s Committee on Public Information. Daniela Rossini. 103
* Double ‘V’: Walter White, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and World War II, 1939-1945. Kevern Verney. 117
* The Long Silencing of the Spanish Memoirs of U.S. Ambassador Claude G. Bowers: A Case of Forbearance or Political Repression? María Luz Arroyo. 129
* Political Repression and the Rule of Law: The Cold War Case of William Sentner. Ellen Schrecker. 153
* The Inquisition in Hollywood: Repression On/Behind the Screen. Melvyn Stokes. 173
* Clear and Present Danger? White Racists and the Right to Freedom of Speech. Clive Webb. 185
* U.S. Immigration Legislation since 9/11: Social Control and/or Political Repression? Catherine Lejeune. 205
* Free Speech vs. Fear: A Constitutional Ideal and the Tyranny of the Majority in the American Tradition. Ole O. Moen. 221
Notes on Contributors. 239
Acknowledgements. 243
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Back Cover:
The authors of the essays in this book amass considerable historical evidence illustrating various forms of political repression and its relationship with democracy in the United States from the late-eighteenth century to the present. They discuss efforts, made mostly but not only by government agencies, to control actions and expressions of dissent, criticism, unpalatable truths, political opposition, or, indeed, any kind of opinions that threatened or inconvenienced powerful and privileged groups in the United States. The authors examine the justifications and multiple means of political repression, and identify individuals and social groups that have been victims of repressive attitudes and policies, because of their political ideology or opinions, or because they represented diverse racial, ethnic and religious minorities. This volume, then, is a contribution to the discussion about the paradox of the historical and ongoing existence of political repression in the United States, within a democracy which theoretically guarantees individual rights and freedoms based on equality under the law.