Only Victims - (Limelight) by Robert Vaughn (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A necessary book with a necessary goal - stressing the importance of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and citing the dangers of what happens when its cherished tradition is jeopardized. In the name of combating Communism liberties were jettisoned, while the art of stool pigeon information dissemination reached a feverish pitch during Hollywood's blacklist period beginning shortly after World War Two with the advent of the Cold War.

From the Back Cover

In a dramatic change of role, the noted television and film star has written a vivid and incisive account of the House Committee on Un-American Activities' probe of the entertainment industry from 1938 to 1958. Formed to investigate alleged subversives, by the late fifties the committee had succeeded in ruining the careers and sometimes the lives of many of Hollywood and Broadway's top writers and performers. Quoting generously from transcripts of its hearings, Vaughn shows how the committee's primary purpose was punitive rather than legislative, and concludes that its most serious damage to American theatre and film is not easily documented: the loss of all the words never written or spoken because of the impact - and the fear - of the committee's misdeeds.