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Episode 12: There is fiction in the space between
Description
What do Cold War witch hunts and old-school fables have in common? In this episode of The Persistence, host Angélica Cordero connects The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Emperor’s New Clothes to America’s Red Scare, exposing how paranoia and denial fueled McCarthyism. With humor and insight, Angélica revisits the stories of Paul Robeson, Dorothy Parker, and Hazel Scott, brilliant artists and activists who refused to stay silent, even when the cost was everything. This isn’t just history. It’s a mirror for today’s culture wars and performance politics, reminding us that truth-telling has always been an act of resistance.
This episode was written by and produced by Angélica Cordero, with a little help from ChatGPT.
Our theme song is Don’t Kid Yourself Baby by Fold, used with their blessings. Podcast artwork for The Persistence features Mexican-American activist Jovita Idar and was created by Tamra Collins of Sunroot Studio.
Resources For Fellow Wascally Wabbits
Books
The Broadcast 41: Women and the Anti-Communist Blacklist by Carol A. Stabile
Feminism Unfinished: A Short, Surprising History of American Women's Movements by Dorothy Sue Cobble, Linda Gordon, Astrid Henry
Ike and McCarthy: Dwight Eisenhower’s secret campaign against Joseph McCarthy by David A. Nichols
The Kitchen Debate and Cold War Consumer Politics: A Brief History with Documents (The Bedford Series in History and Culture) by Sarah Phillips and Shane Hamilton
The American Woman: Her Changing Social, Economic, and Political Roles, 1920-1970 by William H. Chafe
The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown: Civil Rights, Censorship, and the American Library by Louise S. Robbins
The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: Quest for Freedom, 1939 - 1976 by Paul Robeson, Jr.
The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap by Stephanie Coontz
The Women’s History of the Modern World: How Radicals, Rebels, and Everywomen Revolutionized the Last 200 Years by Rosalind Miles
Links
The 1950s Happy Housewife by Rachel Waugh (The Museum of Food and Culture, 2023)
Alicia Keys just played two pianos at once in jaw-dropping Grammys performance by Sofia Rizzi, (ClassicFM, Feb 11, 2019)