Mr. Book just finished Dying For Joe McCarthy’s Sins: The Suicide Of Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt, by Rodger McDaniel.

I first heard about the story of Senator Lester Hunt from Rachel Maddow’s Ultra podcast series. As soon as Rachel had mentioned that there was this book about the topic, I knew that I had to get it.

This was a very good look at the entirely of Hunt’s life. His life sounded interesting from Maddow’s excellent series. But, as great a job she does, a whole book on the topic was able to do into more detail and make things even more interesting.

The book covers all aspects of Hunt’s career, from his time in the Wyoming state legislature, to him serving as state Secretary of State, then to him becoming the first person elected to two terms as governor before becoming US Senator. Tragically, Hunt’s encounters with Joe McCarthy and his allies led to Hunt’s suicide. Hunt’s son was gay and was arrested after a raid in DC. McCarthy and his allies then used leverage over Hunt to first force him to announce he wouldn’t run for reelection, but then weren’t just satisfied with that and the pressure on him led Hunt to kill himself in his office.

I give this book an A. Goodreads requires grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

This review has been posted at my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews, and Goodreads.

Mr. Book originally finished reading this on August 13, 2024.