state of defiance essay
Your essay assignment will be a 4-5-page analysis of Judith Poucher’s State of Defiance: Challenging the Johns Committee’s Assault on Civil Liberties. Your essay should not be a simple re-telling of the story, but a response to the prompt questions below:
In her book, State of Defiance: Challenging the Johns Committee’s Assault on Civil Liberties, Judith G. Poucher refers to the Johns Committee as an example of “Little McCarthyism.†Based on her research, how do the committee’s motives and methods mirror McCarthyism on the national level, and how do they also serve other agendas? What forms did resistance (to the committee) take, and what factors drove each of the highlighted individuals to resist? What enabled Florida’s “little McCarthyism†to keep flourishing after McCarthyism began fading on the national level? What forces finally brought it to a halt?
ARGUMENT
I will expect to see a section discussing each one of the questions (four in all). Lead off each section with a clear topic sentence alerting the reader to what you’ll be discussing, and your views on the question at hand. Then, you’ll include details/quotes from the book supporting your stance. Then you’ll follow the same protocol with the other sections, before concluding with a paragraph that sums up your overall discussion while tying back to the introduction.
EVIDENCE
Sources: Your analysis should come entirely from your interpretation of State of Defiance
Citations: Cite all specific details and direct quotations. Since you’re only dealing with one source, simply note the author and page number in a parenthetical reference in the text.
