Demagogue by Larry Tye is a superb page turner. Well worth the time and the read! Looking forward to the next novel.

Most older Americans have at least a rudimentary understanding of who Senator Joe McCarthy was. The short version of his obit would say he used (largely false) accusations that there were hundreds of Communist infiltrators in the US government to create a degree of hysteria in Cold War America in order to save his flagging career.. Many lives were ruined, careers lost, and at least one suicide was generally attributed to McCarthy’s impending destruction of the man’s life. While the broadest outline of McCarthy’s life is known, Tye’s lengthy and deep treatment of his subject goes far beyond other books on McCarthy.  Only recently have medical records become available as well as unpublished memoirs of people who knew him well, his war record as a Marine, and previously unavailable records of closed door hearings held byMcCarthy.  Tye is careful to be even-handed in investigating long-told stories about McCarthy.. He verifies that his subject had very bad health even in his thirties and was treated with opiates for various forms of chronic pain. He also shows that McCarthy was a problem drinker if not an alcoholic many years earlier than even his enemies charged. 
     What may be of major interest to some readers is to look for a parallel between McCarthy and Trump in methods of seizing and using power. Both men made extensive use of the skills of Roy Cohn who was widely considered to be a man without morals or scruples.

having lived through these times and remembering the infamous "Senate Hearings" I was surprised at being transported back in time.  A very faithful rendition of a very dark time in our Nation's history.

Demagogue: The Life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy by Larry Tye is a comprehensive and well-written biography that reads almost like a novel, albeit a dystopian one at times.

I'll be honest, when I started the book I was anticipating almost 500 pages of interesting information but, like many long nonfiction books, presented in a rather dry manner. This is a period of American (anti)intellectual history I find quite intriguing so I was ready to just deal with it. But this book is engaging and kept me wanting to read more. No easy task when dealing with a figure that can stir so many strong, negative emotions. The writing is part of what made me round my rating up.

The other aspect that cinched the rating is that much of this information is newly released, which means no matter how much we have read about McCarthy or the period, there is new information here. Any book that can present new material from primary sources, and in an engaging manner, deserves a solid rating.

There will be a few points where the reader will feel a small bit of sympathy for McCarthy. That is a credit to Tye presenting such a vile human being in his full humanity and not just the inhumanity he showed to his fellow humans and countrymen. But that sympathy is short-lived and, for me, quickly overcome. Karma can be a, well, you know, especially when a cowardly bully loses the ability to bully. Then they become a shell of the person they were before, which was a shell of a real person. Yeah, I despise McCarthy and what he helped to do to this country, and I don't apologize for it.

We get glimpses at both McCarthy's personal life and the closed door behind the scenes wheeling and dealings on Capital Hill. While revisiting the events can stir anger and frustration, Tye keeps us focused on the larger arc of the book, namely McCarthy's life in total, which keeps us looking ahead as well as behind.

By ahead we also mean all the way to the newest bully on the block, little Donnie Trump. There is a highly publicized connection between McCarthy and Trump, one pathetic man named Roy Cohn. Between Trump's connection with Cohn and Roger Stone, we can easily see what type of snake Trump is: part McCarthy, part Nixon, and part feces.

I highly recommend this to those interested in this specific period of US history, as well as readers who enjoy well-written biographies. I think that even those on the far right who might still find some redeeming quality in McCarthy will find enough here to keep them reading, though beware, at almost 500 pages it is far longer than the Dr Suess books you're used to.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

There are many many books about the life & times of Joseph McCarthy & the era of McCarthyism. He ruined many lives and no doubt was indirectly responsible for the death of others. Larry Tye has written a thorough look into this man's life, having done a huge amount of research. There is no sugar-coating in the book. McCarthy and his equally evil cohort Roy Cohn reeked havoc on our democracy in a few short years. The last half of the book follows the downfall of McCarthy the climax of which was the Army-McCarthy hearings. Mr. Tye includes in his book a vast number of notes both within the text and at the end of the book, as well as an exhaustive bibliography of books and articles. (Since I received this copy as a prepublication copy through NetGalley, my copy did not have an index to the text, although I have no doubt there will be an extensive one.)
One small part of the book is a look at the influence McCarthy had over Trump. There are many similarities that point out how delicate our democracy is. Trump was well-schooled by his mentor Roy Cohn, who learned so much sitting at the feet of McCarthy. "Demagogue" is not an easy book to read, partly because of its depth of subject, but for me, more so for the anger it brought up. But it should be read as a lesson as to what can happen when fear, lies, and innuendo are used as an excuse for government.