About This Lesson
Do you love history? Well, authors Andrea Balis and Elizabeth Levy do and they can’t wait to share their passion with you on What’s Up? through their Junior Literary Guild Selection book, WITCH HUNT: THE COLD WAR, JOE MCCARTHY AND THE RED SCARE which brings to life an important time in US history during the 1950’s. Join Andrea and Elizabeth to learn more about this gripping period in US history and imagine what it might be like to live during a time when trust was low and anxiety was high between neighbors, friends — and even families.
About the Book
A cutting-edge look into a pivotal moment in US history: McCarthy’s infamous “witch hunt” for communists during the 1950’s Red Scare.
At the cusp of the Cold War, Americans were so afraid of communists living among them that they began to hunt them like witches. As Senator Joe McCarthy took up this mantle to hunt down “communists” in the US, citizens grew terrified of being accused, so they turned on each other – pointing fingers at neighbors, friends, and even family.
Told through a unique and inviting screenplay-format, brought to life with dozens of illustrations by Tim Foley, and comprised almost entirely of quotes derived from primary sources, Witch Huntrecounts the political craze that gripped America during the Red Scare when McCarthyism forced people to go to extraordinary lengths to keep themselves and their families safe from persecution against their own government.
