History Lessons traces Dan Lynn Watt's journey through childhood in New York during the McCarthy era. He marched on May Day with his war hero father and activist mother, chanting "We don't want another war!" and "Jim Crow must go!" At camp, he sang about world peace, freedom, and workers' rights. At school, he attempted to hide his family's politics. He takes you inside family struggles against racism and political repression. Disillusioned with communism by the 1960s, he became a civil rights and antiwar activist.