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Scare Tactics

Robert Day
BOOKSHOP
AMAZON
BARNES & NOBLE

Set during the McCarthy era, when the red scare permeated every facet of American life, causing friends and neighbors to turn on each other, Scare Tactics is a stunning evocation of a historical period in which readers may recognize political divisions similar to those that exist today. The novel focuses on the Army-McCarthy hearings, which were broadcast nationally on CBS for two months in 1954 and captivated audiences across the United States.  Based on original research, the novel is narrated in alternate chapters by Roy Cohn, McCarthy’s chief counsel, and an insurance agent in Wisconsin who loses his job, his house, and his marriage when he has the audacity to publicly defend the Bill of Rights. Entertaining and fast-moving with memorable and famous characters, the novel can also be read as a cautionary tale for those who take our freedom for granted and are less than vigilant about those who might take it away.

 

Author: David Milofsky
Paperback: 298 pages, 2025
Literature | Novel
ISBN-13: 9781947175693

David Milofsky has published six novels and a collection of short stories. He has received fellowships for his work from Breadloaf, the MacDowell Colony and the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition, he has won a Prairie Schooner short fiction award the Colorado Book Award. He served as editor of Denver Quarterly and Colorado Review and was the founding editor of the Colorado Prize in Poetry. An Emeritus Professor of English at Colorado State University, he lives in Colorado with his wife Jean.

 

“David Milofsky’s terrific new novel is set in the 1950s, during the time when Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Senate hearings dominated the news and commanded the nation’s attention. It was an era of suspicion, loyalty oaths, and reputations destroyed with a single careless accusation. There were to be sure, villains and heroes of that period, but David Milofsky demonstrates, as the best writers can, that the truth of most lives is often complex and nuanced. Scare Tactics is historical fiction at its finest, illuminating not only the past but also helping us understand the present.”
 
—Larry Watson, author of Montana 1948
“In alternating chapters, Scare Tactics follows a relatable World War II veteran whose family life and job are destroyed by anti-Communjist smears, and Joe McCarfthy’s henchman Roy Cohn, here brought vividly to life. Milofsky’s masterful depiction of the early Fifties and gripping scenes of the McCarthy hearings evoke frightening similarities to today: fact-free accusations, book banning, bullying tactics, conspiracy theories, media manipulation, and disregard for political norms. This absorbing tale will remind readers that while history doesn’t repeat itself, it does rhyme.”
 
—Barbara Wright, author of Crow
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