Books on Trial: Red Scare in the Heartland

by Shirley A. Wiegand, Wayne A. Wiegand

How civil liberties triumphed over national insecurity

Between the two major red scares of the twentieth century, a police raid on a Communist Party bookstore in Oklahoma City marked an important lesson in the history of American freedom.

In a raid on the Progressive Bookstore in 1940, local officials seized thousands of books and pamphlets and arrested twenty customers and proprietors. All were detained incommunicado and many were held for months on unreasonably high bail. Four were tried for violating Oklahoma’s “criminal syndicalism” law, and their convictions and ten-year sentences caused a nationwide furor. After protests from labor unions, churches, publishers, academics, librarians, the American Civil Liberties Union, members of the literary world, and prominent individuals ranging from Woody Guthrie to Eleanor Roosevelt, the convictions were overturned on appeal.

Shirley A. Wiegand and Wayne A. Wiegand share the compelling story of this important case for the first time. They reveal how state power—with support from local media and businesses—was used to trample individuals’ civil rights during an era in which citizens were gripped by fear of foreign subversion.

Richly detailed and colorfully told, Books on Trial is a sobering story of innocent people swept up in the hysteria of their times. It marks a fascinating and unnerving chapter in the history of Oklahoma and of the First Amendment. In today’s climate of shadowy foreign threats—also full of unease about the way government curtails freedom in the name of protecting its citizens—the past speaks to the present.

 

 

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics

308 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2007

Reviews

[Betony · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting time in history is detailed in minutiae. This book covers an event many people probably aren't aware of-- the storming of a small bookstore in Oklahoma City in the 40s, that resulted in the arrest of the owners and all who were inside at the time. The crime? Selling Communist literature. The trials are related in their entirety and the descriptions are taken from first-hand accounts, newspaper articles, and court documents. Very well-researched!

[Richard Riggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting account of an event not many folks know about. The book would have benefitted by a more objective tone. Such a tone would not have detracted from the central lesson - the craziness spawned by the combination of irrational fear and state power.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Book about the great "Oklahoma Witch Hunt." Ordinary Leftists were imprisoned in Oklahoma for having unpopular political views.

One of the most interesting things i learned, was how much the Oklahoma prosecutors relied on racist tactics and strategies to persuade jurors to convict the Leftists.

[Luciano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books on Trial details an interesting subject, which most people probably never heard about it in class. Shirley Wiegand did her due diligence in researching for the book. The writing style can be dry because it is non-fiction, and so this book may not be worthwhile for every reader.

[Cris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wiegand took inherently passionate subjects (civil right abuses, communism, censorship, etc) and wrote a surprisingly staid book. Wiegand's book would have benefited from a less scholarly tone and a more narrative approach. Instead it seems to be stuck halfway between a true-story and a research paper for school, and truly suitable for neither the serious academic nor the interested layperson.

You may thing, 'well you finished it', which is true but misleading. I did an *awful* lot of skimming.