The Garden of American History: Things Are Bad Now -- They May Have Been Worse 100 Years Ago

 

A new book by Adam Hochschild, reviewed in the New York Times this month  by Thomas Meaney, offers an early 20^th century context for America’s current political crisis. Titled “American Midnight,” the book reminds us “that there are other contenders than the period beginning in 2016 for the distinction of Darkest Years of the Republic. By some measures — and certainly in many quarters of the American left — the years 1917-21 have a special place in infamy. The United States during that time saw a swell of patriotic frenzy and political repression rarely rivaled in its history. [The government’s] terror campaign against American radicals, dissidents, immigrants and workers makes the McCarthyism of the 1950s look almost subtle by comparison.”

Here's a link to the book review American Midnight

          The period that Hochschild writes about is traditionally known as The Red Scare, and it’s the era when two immigrants were framed in Massachusetts for robbery and murders they did not commit that became an international cause known as the Sacco and Vanzetti case. 

That cause celebre was the starting point for my novel, “Suosso’s Lane,” which focuses on the Plymouth origins of the case. Bartolomeo Vanzetti was an Italian immigrant who settled in Plymouth’s immigrant neighborhood – North Plymouth, regarded then as a separate enclave – in 1915. He boarded with an immigrant family who lived on a street called “Suosso’s Lane,” hence my book’s title.

          Millions of people around the world attended demonstrations or otherwise protested America's racist scapegoating of two Italian immigrants because of their political beliefs. And because of widespread prejudice against the flow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, including Italians, but also Poles, Russians, Greeks, Jews, Hungarians, Serbs and other Slavs. 

"Suosso's Lane" was based on research I initially undertook for the Plymouth, Mass. newspaper I was then working for ("The Old Colony Memorial"). The novel also includes a fictional story about late 20th century history buffs seeking new evidence relevant to the 100-year-old case. 

"Suosso's Lane" was published by Web-e-Books in 2016. I still have copies of the 570-page paperback available for purchase. If you're interested in the book, or in the Sacco-Vanzetti case, you are welcome to email me at rc.knox2@gmail.com. 

You can also find more info about "Suosso's Lane" at my website robertcknox