The Red Squad

March 30, 2009
Broner (A Weave of Women
) succeeds in capturing the political spirit of the 1960s and '70s in this character-driven tale of English graduate students and teachers struggling to come to grips with who they are. In the approximate present-day, academic Anka Pappas finds tossed on her front stoop a file documenting her activities as an “opinionated, rebellious, and assertive†English instructor in the 1960s, but the most shocking thing is that it appears one of her confidantes from that era was a government informer. As she sifts through her recollections and the file contents, Anka reflects on a lifetime's worth of activism, teaching and friendships. There was Mr. Berger, who provided frequent humorous fodder for Anka and her peers; O'Dwyer, who disappeared from campus life after being arrested; Bernstein, who obsessed over moving to Israel; and Kevin, the priest-turned-student object of Anka's crush. Broner captures the mannerisms, witticisms and transparent insecurities of her young idealists, and the who-was-the-rat mystery will keep readers involved through the too-tidy conclusion.

May 1, 2009
The arrival of an envelope, mailed anonymously, forces Professor Anka Pappas to recall the thrilling and terrible time when she and five mismatched colleagues taught English composition in a Detroit university and occupied a shared office known as the Bullpen. The envelopes contents show that she and other Bullpenners were under surveillance for antiwar activities during the late 1960s. The Red Squad is an insightful, affecting, and often funny tale of higher education, as seen by academic Okiesadjunct facultystruggling to finish their PhDs while America was engaged in another war disapproved of by many and enduring ham-handed repression of dissent. Its also an engaging tale of a small group of lonely young people whose shared experiences bind them for a lifetime. Broners writing is concise yet pithy, as she limns Ankas interest in fellow Bullpenner Kevin, a Jesuit seeking release from his priestly vows, and charts the decline of Detroit. This is one of those books that will grow in readers estimation long after theyve finished reading it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)