This is an original, comprehensive history of one of the most pervasive and insidious forms of political repression in the United States—one few Americans know anything about. In a rich narrative spanning more than two centuries, gifted legal historian Julia Rose Kraut reveals how federal authorities routinely barred foreign dissidents who hoped to mingle freely with the public in the ‘land of the free.’
An eye-opening and powerfully written book. Julia Rose Kraut demonstrates that though the methods and technologies used by the government to suppress political dissent in the United States have changed over the generations, the fear of radicals—and the association of foreigners with radicalism—has remained constant. Every politically engaged citizen will be riveted by this history of the architects of political suppression and the legal challenges launched by those who sought to protect core American values of freedom of speech and association.
Julia Rose Kraut, in Threat of Dissent , seeks to capture those dissenting and opposing voices in her excellent history of the ‘ideological exclusion’ of persons who held unorthodox beliefs…Her close analysis yields a superb study of gatekeeping in action.
Reviews in American History - Lucy E. Salyer
Kraut is a gifted narrator…Threat of Dissent is highly recommended to all readers concerned with U.S. immigration policy and how it has and still relates to matters of free speech and free association.
[Kraut’s] careful archival work is impressive…This book is engaging and well suited for undergraduate or graduate legal history courses, immigration and ethnicity courses, or as selected readings for either US history survey.
Journal of American Ethnic History - Erika Weidemann Bravo
An excellent contribution and close reading of the underpinnings of these laws and the persistent harm they’ve had for generations on those who differ in ethnicity, country, and ideology…a thoughtful historical and legal analysis of the legacy of suppression on political or ideological suppression in the U.S.
Society for U.S. Intellectual History - Jeannelle Horcasitas
Suspicion of foreigners goes back to the earliest days of the republic…Kraut traces how different ideologies would be considered intolerably dangerous according to the dominant fears of a given era. Anarchism gave way to communism; communism gave way to Islamic radicalism.
New York Times - Jennifer Szalai
Excellent…Generate[s] important insights into…questions about the history of deportation and removal of foreign-born residents from and by the United States…A magisterial and well-written account…A gripping, expansive story that traces the consequences of suspicions of ‘un-American’ ideologies and loyalties in federal jurisprudence from the War of 1812 through the still-raging War on Terror.
Journal of Interdisciplinary History - Rachel Ida Buff
I opened these pages skeptically, and then could not put them down. Threat of Dissent tells the rich and instructive history of efforts to protect America’s borders, first by legislation that excluded unwanted people, and then by legal and judicial challenges to those with unwelcome ideas and beliefs. An essential book for all concerned with US immigration policy and with the free expression of ideas inside and outside the nation.
A must-read for those who care about immigration or the First Amendment. In clear and lively prose, Kraut charts how noncitizens are doubly vulnerable under American law: treated with suspicion as strangers, and subject to expulsion based on their political beliefs. Along the way, she forces us to reckon with a deeply troubling reality: freedom of speech has not been available for everyone.
Kraut is a gifted narrator...Threat of Dissent is highly recommended to all readers concerned with U.S. immigration policy and how it has and still relates to matters of free speech and free association.--Olaf Stieglitz "American Studies" (7/10/2023 12:00:00 AM)Threat of Dissent , seeks to capture those dissenting and opposing voices in her excellent history of the 'ideological exclusion' of persons who held unorthodox beliefs...Her close analysis yields a superb study of gatekeeping in action.--Lucy E. Salyer "Reviews in American History" (12/1/2022 12:00:00 AM)America's Forgotten Constitutions The Refugee Challenge in Post-Cold War America Threat of Dissent tells the rich and instructive history of efforts to protect America's borders, first by legislation that excluded unwanted people, and then by legal and judicial challenges to those with unwelcome ideas and beliefs. An essential book for all concerned with US immigration policy and with the free expression of ideas inside and outside the nation.--Alice Kessler-Harris, author of A Difficult Woman: The Challenging Life and Times of Lillian Hellman War Against War: The American Fight for Peace, 1914-1918
