Customer Reviews

Naming Names

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4 star:		(1)
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When I bought this, I was uncertain that I could trust the perspective of the author: as publisher of The Nation (which I have written for) he is certifiably of the "left". I feared that he would take an obvious side, and hammer it into the ground.

What I found instead was an absolutely and scrupulously fair interpretation of what happened in the McCarthy era and why so many good and talented people betrayed their erstwhile friends. Navasky approaches it as the worst kind of personal moral dilemma: how can you save your career and not betray your deepest personal (and sometimes still political) allegiances.

The cast of characters comes predominently from the truly first rate, for example Jerome Robbins or Elia Kazan. Navassky shows how the struggled with their decision to name names, often convincing themselves that they had to do it to be an ethical person and good american, and then - to his great credit - he explores the shattering psychological repercussions that ensued. These actors in the drama are very human and caught in a dilemma so terrible that I pray I never will face a similar choice. Rather than seek a few weak bad guys, it is an indictment of an entire political system and policial era. Even if you are not convinced by his argument, the reader feels compelled to reflect on it. I certainly did.

Warmly recommended as a profound inquiry into moral choice, placed vividly in historical context. This is a masterpiece.

I was required to obtain a copy of this book for a class about the Hollywood Blacklist era, thus I expected it to be a boring near textbook like book. However, it is actually written very well and flows well enough to entice the reader to continue. If you have any interest in the Blacklist era, of which repercussions of it can still be seen today, I would read this book.

This provides some "up close and personal" portaits of a number of persons directly affected by the HUAC hearings and the Hollywood Blacklist. Really interesting look at how individual lives were so drastically affected by this widespread witch hunt (and very relevant to the current state of our society!)

I was looking for an account of the Hollywood Blacklist. This is the best one I found. It has to be read thoroughly--especially in the beginning, Navasky's writing is unpleasant to read, but it's worth getting through that to his excellent analysis and fair-minded conclusions. There is much here that I didn't get elsewhere, including the account of the therapist, Phil Cohen, who urged his patients to name names. There's also an interview with a survivor of the period who admits that there were economic reasons for talking: the movies were collapsing, and work was getting scarce.

While this will probably remain the standard work for years to come, it's not the only book which should be considered. Neil Gabler's "An Empire of their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood" gives the perspective of Hollywood management, which differed radically from that of blacklisted labor. Also, the Elia Kazan story isn't over. A recent account of Kazan's work with Shulberg revises the notion that "On the Waterfront" was Kazan's "excuse me" for naming names. Instead, it could have been about the frustration of the reformer priest who tried to expose mob control of the New York waterfront, only to be silenced by higher-ups in the church. It's called "On the Irish Waterfront" and is recommended.

I finally got around to reading this book thirty years after its publication. It's terrific. I never realized what an unbelievable nightmare the HUAC hearings were. That entire episode was much worse than people can imagine. A very sad time in our country's history. Navasky did a terrific job analyzing what went on back then from many different angles (e.g., social, political, psychological, moral).