Trinity of Passion

The 2nd of three volumes by Wald tracking political personal lives of several generations of US left-wing writers, "Trinity of Passion" carries forward the chronicle launched in "Exiles from a Future Time: The Forging of the Mid-20th-century Literary Left." This volume delves into literary, emotional ideological trajectories of radical cultural workers in the era when the Internat'l Brigades fought in the Spanish Civil War ('36-39) the USA battled in WWII ('41-45). Probing in detail the controversial impact of the Popular Front on literary culture, he explores the ethical esthetic challenges that pro-Communist writers faced. He presents a cross section of literary talent, from famous to forgotten. The writers examined include Len Zinberg (aka Ed Lacy), John Oliver Killens, Irwin Shaw, Albert Maltz, Ann Petry, Chester Himes, Henry Roth, Lauren Gilfillan, Ruth McKenney, Morris U. Schappes Jo Sinclair. He also uncovers dramatic new information about Arthur Miller's complex commitment to the Left. Confronting heartfelt questions about Jewish masculinity, racism at the core of liberal democracy, the corrosion of utopian dreams the thorny interaction between antifascism Communism, Wald recreates the intellectual cultural landscape of a remarkable era.

Preface

Introduction: the strange career of Len Zinberg

Tough Jews in the Spanish Civil War

The agony of the African American left

The peculiarities of the Germans

A rage in Harlem

Disappearing acts

The conversion of the Jews

Arthur Miller's missing chapter

Conclusion: the fates of antifascism

Notes

Acknowledgments Sources

Index