The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog.

American Mother by Collum McCann is an as-told-to account by Diane Foley of the 2014 death of her son, freelance American journalist James W. Foley. McCann, the author of Apeirogon and Let the Great World Spin, is a master storyteller, tells the first and last chapters of this riveting book in the third person, but most of the book is in the first person as McCann channels Diane’s struggles to save her son Jim. I

In 2011 he had been held for 44 days by Gaddafi forces in Libya, but he returned after his release to the Middle East. In 2012, he was again taken hostage, this time by ISIS in Syria. For two years, he was moved from one unidentified locale to another, repeatedly tortured and ultimately beheaded, a horror captured on video and seen worldwide.

It’s a heart-rending family tragedy, a frustrating account of the obduracy of our own government and its stated refusal to pay ransom for hostages, and a reminder of the journalists and other hostages held today, many for simply doing their jobs. Most recently, Wall St. Journal Evan Gershkovich was convicted of trumped-up spying charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Collum McCann became part of the story in 2021 when he accompanied Diane Foley to a courthouse in Virginia, where she interviewed Alexander Kotey, the former British citizen turned ISIS fanatic, known as Jihadi George, who had pled guilty to killing her son. Jim Foley’s career had been devoted to reporting the stories of human beings caught up in war zones. His commitment to understanding all sides of a conflict was a large part of why Diane Foley agreed to participate in the Kotey interview, to see if she could find some remorse on the part of the murderer. Touched by photos of his two little daughters, Foley offered to help them.  It was a gesture that, like many others detailed in this book, was informed by her deep Catholic faith, a belief in her personal relationship with God that sustained her during the ordeal.

She would become the driving force behind efforts to keep the plight of numerous hostages in front of the public. She fiercely lobbied government officials, to little effect, constantly outraged that other governments (except for the U.S. and U.K.) would make deals to secure their citizens’ release. She eventually succeeded in changing procedures to facilitate inter-agency cooperation.  Her creation of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, the purpose of which is to assist families of those held hostage, may be the most lasting result of her grace and determination, born of an anguish that no mother should ever have to endure.

“The Grocer Who Sold McCarthyism” by Fred Fiske is about the Syracuse-based anti-Communist activist who morphed his passion for American antiquities and memorabilia into a leadership position in the anti-Red witch hunts of the 1950’s.  The author is a former reporter and editorialist for the Syracuse Post-Standard and applies his deep capacity for research to unearth every jot and tittle of the movement to rout out alleged Communist sympathizers and individuals with liberal leanings from every walk of life. (Full disclosure: Fiske is a friend and former colleague from the world of opinion journalism.)

Laurence Johnson rose from a simple grocery store owner to a supermarket innovator and superior merchandiser. He started his crusade by refusing to stock his shelves with products associated with the sponsors of programs featuring suspected Communists or Communist-sympathizers.   He came to wield enormous power, using his key position in the industry to threaten advertising agencies, vendors, and manufacturers to withhold their sponsorship of programming that included writers, producers, directors and actors with any tinge of contact with Communist-leaning organizations. The suspect groups broadened to include organizations involved in civil liberties, union activities and minority rights.

Johnson threatened and mobilized boycotts against targets CBS, ABC, Proctor & Gamble,  Libby’s, Swanson’s food, Campbell Soup, Borden, the Metropolitan Opera and many more. More often than not, their impulse was to bow to his threats. The careers of hundreds of actors, entertainers, and journalists were ruined.

Fiske presents the whole history of Joseph McCarthy and the McCarthyism movement that outlasted the Wisconsin senator. He captures the environment of paranoia, fear and inertia that enabled the blacklisting of individuals in arts and culture, colleges and universities, film and television, libraries. The allegedly pro-America vigilantes didn’t begin to lose their power until CBS broadcaster John Henry Faulk, a highly visible blacklisting victim, fought back and, with celebrated litigator Louis Nizer representing him, successfully sued Johnson and two others who built a chilling anti-Communist data base and wielded it to ruin the lives of prominent people whom they wrongly labeled as dangers to the country.  In fact, it was the domestic vigilantes, the anti-Red activists, who posed the greatest danger.

In today’s polarized world, this story about the national descent into blacklisting resonates eerily with today’s efforts to ban books, boycott companies and to demonize others, all bypassing any civil discourse and respect for First Amendment freedoms. Thousands are manipulated by lies, distortions and fear mongering around “the hordes” of immigrants, “vermin invading our country, raping and murdering.” Sadly, our country’s history has been rife with fanatics ruining lives in the name of patriotism and supposed devotion to our Constitution.  Fiske started researching this book in the 1980’s. I fear it will be as relevant in another half century as it is today.