A foreign correspondent is targeted by the US government after aligning with the Communist Party for a controversial story
In what many consider his most autobiographical novel, bestselling author Howard Fast revisits the McCarthy-era anticommunist witch hunts he endured during his years as a member of the Communist Party. In The Pledge, Bruce Bacon, a war correspondent stationed in Bengal near the end of World War II, investigates a terrible famine that has left millions in India starving to death, despite ample food supplies stored—and allegedly withheld—by the British. Seeking to tell his story back in New York, Bacon meets members of a communist organization, including a Daily Worker reporter named Molly Maguire. But the America he returns to is not the same one he left behind, and soon Bacon discovers that associating with communists has put him squarely in the crosshairs of the House Un-American Activities Committee. This suspenseful and powerful novel revisits the guilt-by-association fear and suspicion that gripped America during the second Red Scare, which had harrowing consequences for those unfortunate enough to be accused. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Howard Fast including rare photos from the author’s estate.
Howard Fast (1914–2003) was one of the most prolific American writers of the twentieth century. He was a bestselling author of more than eighty works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and screenplays. The son of immigrants, Fast grew up in New York City and published his first novel upon finishing high school in 1933. In 1950, his refusal to provide the United States Congress with a list of possible Communist associates earned him a three-month prison sentence. During his incarceration, Fast wrote one of his best-known novels, Spartacus (1951). Throughout his long career, Fast matched his commitment to championing social justice in his writing with a deft, lively storytelling style.