The Pledge

More about the book

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.