Being Blacklisted

While Inside Out was a memoir of the blacklist, I felt like I got a sense of who Bernstein was and what he was about. He did not go into details about his personal life with his children, but I felt like he still put himself out there for the reader. I feel like I was able to get a sense of what the blacklist really was, the types of people it affected, and the efforts these people made to somehow overcome the blacklist. I feel like Bernstein did a remarkable job at explaining how the blacklist affected him as well. There were many times that he was frank or candid, but I felt like that was the only way he was able to function in the blacklist. He admits he got angry at times and was genuinely unhappy about aspects of the blacklist, but it was beyond his control, and he just accepted it because he had no other plausible choice. I respect that he was able to make that translate into the memoir, and I don’t think it would have worked as well if he had put in a number of personal anecdotes about his family. What was included was enough for me and I enjoyed those small looks into his personal life.

I also like how Bernstein was able in some ways appreciate the blacklist. There was nothing good about the blacklist itself, but it seemed to really help him figure out where he stood in life, not only with politics, but with friendships. He is able to appreciate some of the affects of the blacklist, and I like that about him. When Bernstein was in the meeting with the head of Paramount he was very honest about the decisions that he had made in his life. Bernstein knew that some of his decisions were misguided, but he also stood his ground and said that he still believed in some of the same causes and would join them again if the chance were to arise. I like that despite being blacklisted he didn’t lose faith in what he believed in.