American Scare ticketed prelaunch event

Join Anderson’s Bookshop for an author event with Robert W. Fieseler, to celebrate the release of his newest book, American Scare: Florida's Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives, on Monday, June 16th at 7:00 pm in our Naperville store. Fieseler will be in conversation with author Barbara Yokom.

Event Format

We will begin checking you in approximately 30 minutes before the start time. After a presentation and Q&A with the author, the line will form in numbered order with the following guidelines:

• Posed photo with your camera taken by our staff

• There is a limit of 2 books from home to be signed (unless otherwise stated)

• There is a limit of 1 personalization of the new book only (unless otherwise stated)
   

AMERICAN SCARE 6/17 LAUNCH EVENT

Join us for an evening with Robert W. Fieseler - author of TINDERBOX - celebrating the launch of his new book, AMERICAN SCARE: Florida's Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives. He will appear with Gwen Thompkins, followed by a book signing

In AMERICAN SCARE, award-winning journalist and author Robert W. Fieseler delivers a damning exposé of how, for nearly a decade in the 1950s and ‘60s, the Florida Legislature founded, funded, and supported the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee—nicknamed the “Johns Committee”—an organization that used the cover of communism to viciously attack members of the NAACP and queer professors and students..

“American Scare is an important history of how Black activists and gay teachers were targeted by a legislative inquest in Florida in the late 1950s. But it’s also something more: The story of how this history was recovered and revealed after authorities tried to hide it. An important, riveting book both for those who value history and for those who want to understand the process by which history is preserved—and the ways the past impacts the present.” —Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Code Breaker and Elon Musk, professor of history at Tulane University, and recipient of the National Humanities Medal

“American Scare is a fierce and chilling book, deeply reported and deftly written. Fieseler shines a bright light on injustices past and present, bringing a censored saga to life.” —Jonathan Eig, author of the Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestseller King: A Life

American Scare Author Talk with Robert W. Fieseler & Owen Keehnen

Join us for an author talk with Robert W. Fieseler on Wednesday, June 18th, at 7 PM at Gerber/Hart. Robert will be joined in conversation with local historian and author Owen Keehnen. Copies of American Scare will be available for purchase from Women & Children First Books.

American Scare: Florida’s Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives A vital exposé for both our history and our present day, American Scare tells the riveting story of how the Florida government destroyed the lives of Black and queer citizens in the twentieth century.

In January 1959, Art Copleston was escorted out of his college accounting class by three police officers. In a motel room, blinds drawn, he sat in front of a state senator and the legal counsel for the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, nicknamed the “Johns Committee.” His crime? Being a suspected homosexual. And the government of Florida would use any tactic at their disposal—legal or not—to get Copleston to admit it….

Robert W. Fieseler -

American Scare

In January 1959, Art Copleston was escorted out of his college accounting class by three police officers. In a motel room, blinds drawn, he sat in front of a state senator and the legal counsel for the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, nicknamed the “Johns Committee.” His crime? Being a suspected homosexual. And the government of Florida would use any tactic at their disposal—legal or not—to get Copleston to admit it.

Using a secret trove of primary source documents that have been decoded and de-censored for the first time in history, journalist Robert W. Fieseler unravels the mystery of what actually happened behind the closed doors of an inquisition that held ordinary citizens ransom to its extraordinary powers.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Robert W. Fieseler is a journalist investigating marginalized groups and a scholar excavating forgotten histories. A National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association 'Journalist of the Year' and recipient of the Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship, his debut book Tinderbox won seven awards, including the Edgar Award, and his reporting has appeared in Slate, Commonweal, and River Teeth, among others. He is currently pursuing a PhD at Tulane University as a Mellon Fellow. Fieseler's second queer history book American Scare, a finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award, publishes in June 2025. A former Athenaeum writer and proud Boston resident, he now lives with his husband on the gayest street in New Orleans.

Michael Bronski has been active in gay liberation as a political organizer, writer, publisher and theorist since 1969. He is the author of numerous award wining books including "A Queer History of the United States," "You Can Tell Just By Looking: And 20 Other Myths about LGBT Life and People" and "Considering Hate: Violence, Goodness, and Justice in American Culture and Politics," coauthored with Kay Whitlock. In 2017 he was awarded the awarded the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Publishing Triangle. He is Professor of the Practice in Activism and Media in the Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Harvard University

This event is being hosted in partnership with The History Project.

East End Books Ptown presents: American Scare: Florida's Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives - Robert Fieseler in Conv. w/ David Johnson 6/25 at 6pm.

A vital exposé for both our history and our present day, American Scare tells the riveting story of how the Florida government destroyed the lives of Black and queer citizens in the twentieth century.