American Scare
Florida's Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
**A Kirkus Best Book of 2025**
A vital exposé for both our history and our present day, American Scare tells the riveting story of how the Florida government destroyed the lives of Black and queer citizens in the twentieth century.
In January 1959, Art Copleston was escorted out of his college accounting class by three police officers. In a motel room, blinds drawn, he sat in front of a state senator and the legal counsel for the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, nicknamed the “Johns Committee.” His crime? Being a suspected homosexual. And the government of Florida would use any tactic at their disposal—legal or not—to get Copleston to admit it.
Using a secret trove of primary source documents that have been decoded and de-censored for the first time in history, journalist Robert Fieseler unravels the mystery of what actually happened behind the closed doors of an inquisition that held ordinary citizens ransom to its extraordinary powers.
The state of Florida would prefer that this history remain buried. But for nearly a decade, the Florida Legislature founded, funded, and supported the Johns Committee—an organization using the cover of communism to viciously attack members of the NAACP and queer professors and students. Spearheaded by Charley Johns, a multi-term politician in a gerrymandered legislature, the Committee was determined to eliminate any threats to the state's white, conservative regime.
Fieseler describes the heartbreaking ramifications for citizens of Florida whose lives were imperiled, profiling marginalized residents with compassion and a determination to bring their devasting experiences to light at last. A propulsive, human-centered drama, with fascinating insight into Florida politics, American Scare is a page-turning reckoning of our racist and homophobic past—and its chilling parallels to today.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Edgar winner Fieseler (Tinderbox) uncovers a mostly forgotten plot by Florida's government to terrorize its minority residents in this harrowing history. Drawing from a trove of secret documents given to him by whistleblower Bonnie Stark, Fieseler recounts a racist and homophobic mid-century witch hunt waged by the state against its own citizens. In 1956, state senator Charley Johns launched the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee as a local version of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Using the pursuit of communists as cover, Johns hunted down gay Floridians and members of the NAACP, who were then tried in inquisition-style hearings for subversive activities and "crimes against nature." It took nine years and nearly half a million taxpayer dollars before the committee was disbanded, with only a single conviction (for adultery) to its name. In its wake, the committee left a wreckage of lost careers and ruined lives, with teachers fired, scholars harassed, and hundreds of college students harangued (and some expelled). Fieseler's dogged reporting and narrative gifts make the history as gripping as it is frightening. This timely account of political power run amok is not to be missed. Photos.
