Howard Fast tirelessly worked his way from poverty to become one of the most widely read writers of the twentieth century. He was already an acclaimed writer by the mid-1940s, when he decided to formalize his support for the Communist party despite the anti-Communist sentiments that intensified at the conclusion of World War II. The decision not to deny his beliefs, as some other leftist intellectuals did at the time, changed his life. Fast was considered a "Red," and he was jailed for his refusal to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee. He was blacklisted, and Federal Bureau of Investigation chief J. Edgar Hoover did what he could to prevent the publication of Fast's books. FBI agents were even sent to public libraries to remove Fast's published books--suddenly considered Communist propaganda--from the shelves.

Fast's persecution seemed ironic to some observers, because in the historical and biographical...