James Cross Giblin received the Sibert Medal for The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler. The author of many acclaimed books for young readers, he lives in New York City.

WhenCold War tension was at its height, Joseph (call me Joe) McCarthy conducted an anti-Communist crusade endorsed by millions of Americans, despite his unfair and unconstitutional methods. Award-winning writer James Cross Giblin tells the story of a man whose priorities centered on power and media attention and who stopped at nothing to obtain both. The strengths and weaknesses of the man and the system that permitted his rise are explored in this authoritative, lucid biography, which sets McCarthy's life against a teeming backdrop of world affairs and struggles between military and political rivals at home. Chapter notes, bibliography, index.