silver

... I can't help but think that the circumstances surrounding the author while he was writing must have influenced his work.

That's my prejudice, too. At the same time, it's worth keeping in mind that McCarthy had a lot of support and, more, that a lot of non-fascists nevertheless fully believed in the idea that "international communism" posed an immediate and existential threat to the USA (and the entire Free World).

Just think of how many normally anti-imperialist liberals and so-called lefties supported the bombing of Serbia, the invasion of Iraq and the up-coming(?) attack on Iran (to name just a few fer'instances when people philosophically opposed to militarism get caught up by the propaganda of the moment).

So I can believe that he was paying more attention to headlines about the show-trials in Moscow than he was to the House Unamerican Activities Committee hearings in Washington. Or that he approved of what they were up to there.