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….