Operation Mind: A Brief Documentary Account of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. And Why It Matters Now.

Natalie Zemon Davis and Elizabeth Douvan’s Operation Mind is a body of evidence, a prophetic warning, and a call to action about the urgency of doing all we can to prevent thought control in America. In 1952, this meticulously researched pamphlet documented the House Committee on Un-American Activities’ attacks and impact. The HUAC abused its charge to intimidate and silence academics, union members, social critics, scientists, artists, teachers, political opponents, rabbis and other religious leaders, to make them appear suspect and “un-American” in the eyes of the American people. The 2025 reprint of Operation Mind, with a foreword by Silke-Maria Weineck and a new introduction by Natalie Zemon Davis, connects this history of McCarthyism with present-day attacks on academic freedom.