Alger Hiss and the Battle for History

by Susan Jacoby

• ISBN13: 9780300164411
• ISBN10: 0300164416
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2010-03-30
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

Books on Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss abound, as countless scholars have labored to uncover the facts behind Chambers's shocking accusation before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in the summer of 1948that Alger Hiss, a former rising star in the State Department, had been a Communist and engaged in espionage. In this highly original work, Susan Jacoby turns her attention to the Hiss case, including his trial and imprisonment for perjury, as a mirror of shifting American political views and passions. Unfettered by political ax-grinding, the author examines conflicting responses, from scholars and the media on both the left and the right, and the ways in which they have changed from 1948 to our present postCold War era. With a brisk, engaging style, Jacoby positions the case in the politics of the postWorld War II era and then explores the ways in which generations of liberals and conservatives have put Chambers and Hiss to their own ideological uses. An iconic event of the McCarthy era, the case of Alger Hiss fascinates political intellectuals not only because of its historical significance but because of its timeless relevance to equally fierce debates today about the difficult balance between national security and respect for civil liberties.

Author Biography

Susan Jacoby is an independent scholar and best-selling author. The most recent of her seven previous books is The Age of American Unreason. She lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Passions as Prologue	p. 31
The Eye of the Hurricane, 1948-1950	p. 93
Competing Narratives and Public Amnesia, 1950-1965	p. 119
The Best of Times, The Worst of Times, 1970-1980	p. 140
The Rise of the Right and the Cold War at Twilight, 1980-1992	p. 166
The Enemy Vanishes, 1992-2008	p. 183
Conclusion
Passions as Epilogue	p. 202
Chronology	p. 225
Notes	p. 231
Selected Bibliography	p. 239
Acknowledgments	p. 243
Index	p. 245
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