American Scare

“American Scare is an important history of how Black activists and gay teachers were targeted by a legislative inquest in Florida in the late 1950s. But it’s also something more: The story of how this history was recovered and revealed after authorities tried to hide it. An important, riveting book both for those who value history and for those who want to understand the process by which history is preserved—and the ways the past impacts the present.” —Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Code Breaker and Elon Musk, professor of history at Tulane University, and recipient of the National Humanities Medal “With eye-popping detail, American Scare shines a much-needed light on the notorious Johns Committee and its extralegal assault on civil rights activists and the gay community in 1950s and 1960s Florida. Robert Fieseler is to be commended for bringing this remarkable story—and that of the courageous Black, white, and LGBT Floridians who fought back—out into the open once and for all.” —Scott Ellsworth, author of the National Book Award longlister The Ground Breaking “In an age of new and virulent attacks on queer citizens and people of color, Robert W. Fieseler’s American Scare: Florida's Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives – an inquisition into the Florida witch hunts in the 1950s and 60s – is imperative reading. Half civil rights history, half investigative reporting, the story features purloined government documents exposing massive abuses of state power. Fieseler’s illuminating critique of the devastating intentions of the Florida Johns Committee is a thrilling read. We need this book now more than ever.” —Michael Bronski, Stonewall Book Award winning author of A Queer History of the United States