Confessions of a Radical Academic

From the opening pages of Confessions of a Radical Academic: A Memoir, Fred L. Pincus pulls the reader into the complicated lives of American Communists in the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. A strong fear pervaded Fred’s and his sister’s childhoods growing up in Los Angeles. Fred paints a troubling childhood of forbidden realizations that his parents are communists. He could not share family secrets with his friends and personal impressions with his parents. His East LA community was the home of “others”—Eastern European Jewish immigrants who fled to the USA for a freer life yet found themselves caught in the McCarthy era of red-baiting and the disappearance of favored teachers and relatives. His parents’ secular lives were fueled by labor struggles and leftwing politics interrupted by FBI raids and the specter of HUAC in the wings.

In an engaging and well- written memoir Fred Pincus unpacks the complexities of pursuing idealism for a more just society. Through communal and academic political activism, Fred struggles with the harsh reality of seeking advancement in academia with its own oppressive rules and demands. What emerges is a moving portrait of a sociologist, father, and husband who remained true to his political principles while grappling with a host of political challenges including race relations, radical activism, affirmative action, censorship and university politics.” - Peter J Stein, Ph.D. is a retired UNC-Chapel Hill sociologist and author of A Boy’s Journey: From Nazi-Occupied Prague to Freedom in America.