Book on Congress and countersubversion available open access
Academic Library Services celebrates David Durant, federal documents and social sciences librarian, for a published monograph that stems from a decade of blogs in the library’s Cold War and Internal Security Collection.
Book cover for “Congress and Countersubversion in the Twentieth Century: Aspects and Legacies” by David M. Durant.
Durant’s book, “Congress and Countersubversion in the Twentieth Century: Aspects and Legacies,” was published in June by East Carolina University Academic Library Services and UNC Press.
Book entries range from World War and Cold War topics, investigations of real or alleged subversion and the roles and aspects of congressional committees, especially the House Un-American Activities Committee.
“Writing this book was a great honor, and I am grateful to Academic Library Services for all the support they provided and for publishing it,” Durant said. “While most of this material has appeared on the CWIS blog, publishing it as a book allowed me not only to revise and update much of it, but to integrate it and explore the broader themes that unite these topics and make them as relevant as ever.”
It is stated in a UNC Press description that this work is intended to provide an overview and guide to further research for students, members of the public and professional scholars. More information about the book is available here.
The book also is available open access via The ScholarShip, ECU’s institutional repository.
A message from library director Jan Lewis:
“Professor David M. Durant has devoted more than a decade to creating and promoting the Library’s Cold War and Internal Security Collection. It was his idea to choose this subject area for our commitment to the U.S. Government Publishing Office’s Preservation Steward program that ensures continued public access to historic U.S. Government documents in print format. Beginning in 2013, Professor Durant researched and wrote substantive blog posts using primary resources in the collection. While an early aim was to increase awareness of the collection, Professor Durant successfully uses it to educate the reader, demonstrate the use of primary Congressional documents in research, and show the relevance of the materials to topics that continue to occupy the attention of the nation. It is entirely fitting that Professor Durant’s book, Congress and Countersubversion in the 20th Century, was published in 2023, a decade after his blog began, and at a time when we must take seriously his caution that while threats perceived as subversive are real, the countersubversive impulse can inspire “a thoroughly exaggerated view of these threats, as well as completely disproportionate and even counter-productive responses to them.” I am proud that East Carolina University Academic Library Services is the publisher of this book, in partnership with UNC Press’s Office of Scholarly Publishing Services, and I congratulate Professor Durant on this achievement.”