Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The book Justin Raimondo doesn't want you to read!, September 4, 2003
"Under Cover" was a best seller in 1943, the story of how an Armenian-American magazine writer became "synthetic Italian" (the author's term) George Pagnanelli, publisher of a short-lived hate sheet and member or hanger-on of thirty fascist, Nazi, or nativist American groups in order to investigate the late 1930s-early 1940s far Right. What Carlson uncovered was pretty interesting; printing houses churning out translated German propaganda or American-made anti-Semitic tracts and books, secretive "gun clubs" full of fascists waiting for the order to begin "the revolution", isolationist pressure groups made up of old ladies who could cry on command while marching around Congress, pro-Japanese black fascists in Harlem hoping that Hitler would kill off the white man, retired US Army Generals attempting to lead or bankroll pro-Nazi "patriotic" groups. In short, a collection of cranks and loons, but ones that could influence American foreign policy, which was already isolationist. After Pearl Harbor, Carlson hoped that his "patriotic" friends would give up the nonsense, but no luck; the propaganda still kept coming while the more openly Nazi or Fascist groups (like the Nazi party clone German American Bund) went underground and members began to encourage draft avoidance while dodging the Army themselves. According to "Under Cover" it was not until 1942 that the F.B.I. began detaining the more famous "patriotic" propagandists like Laura Ingalls or Elizabeth Dilling for sedition.
Why would a Libertarian like Raimondo, editor and columnist of Antiwar.com, hate a sixty-year-old book? Quite simply because it exposes the truth about two of his pet subjects, the America First Committee, and the writer (Lonnie) Lawrence Dennis. The America First began as a small isolationist club formed in 1940 by the Yale son of a Quaker Oats vice-president. Certain businessmen, such as Henry Ford and Jay Hormel (of Hormel Meat fame) put up the cash to expand the organization nation-wide, and by 1942 the group had millions of members. The problem was that the nativists and Nazis began joining the ranks and influencing the leadership, which had no politics except "keep America out of the war." The result: American Firster Charles Lindburg (of "Spirit of St. Louis" fame) has his name tarnished. Dennis, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was doing. The former "mulatto boy preacher," who for many years passed as white, went from being a leftist in the 1920's to a Fascist after F.D.R. was elected. When Carlson interviewed him in 1942 he plainly stated "I am for National-Socialism in America." Raimondo admires both because they were isolationist, but their isolationism served another perpose, to allow Hitler to dominate Europe.
What I disliked about Carlson's work is that his discriptions of the people he spied on always make them look far more grotesque than their photographs (for example, William Dudley Pelly looked bad due to years of smoking, but Carlson describes him as a walking corpse) while he leaves catty hints that Dennis is actually black. It's just pointlessly vindicitive, and spoils a good book which names all the names and leaves the reader in awe that Carlson's "Pagnanelli" facade didn't collapse sooner.
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1 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
This book and its author lost a libel suit over its trashy lies., August 1, 2008
John Roy Carlson, the author of this libelous fiction, is actually one of many aliases of left-wing loon Avedis Boghos Derounian. Derounian lost a libel suit over this book, which was universally praised by the communists and left-wingers in the 1940's. The main thesis of the book was to mix in a little truth about some nuts and slur by association multiple good people who had nothing to do with Derounian's charges. The author was one of the first to come up with calling anyone who was anti-communist a fascist, a tactic still used by the left to this day. Prior to this time, Fascism of various types was simply another form of socialism, and far-left loons liked fascists like Hitler because he joined the Russians in starting World War II by conquering Poland. Of course, the communist scum changed their tune pretty quickly when Hitler attacked Russia.
This book not only lost a libel suit, but was so bad the judge trying the case, after awarding damages, gave a tongue-lashing to the publisher stating that "a man who would publish such a book would do anything for money." No stars but I did enjoy immensely the positive review from some unfortunate reviewer.
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by John Gorenfeld
by Lawrence Wright
by Martin A. Lee
