Intramurally, there was no shortage of squabbles and skirmishes, even schisms. Mr. Isserman deals with these with admirable efficiency, never wandering off into obscurity when searching for explanations ... Mr. Isserman writes well about the divided loyalties of American communists ... All this history is splendidly covered in Reds.
[Isserman] expertly chronicles the many contradictions and ambiguities in the movement, while placing the party’s history in its 20th-century American context ... Readers of U.S. history, especially about movements deemed radical, will be interested in this title.
This is an interesting story of rise and fall, although sometimes Isserman gets bogged down in details. Moreover, there are other areas that he could have explored further.
