Alger Hiss and the Battle for History (Icons of America) [Hardcover]

Susan Jacoby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 24, 2009 | Series: Icons of America

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 1948—that 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 post–Cold War era. With a brisk, engaging style, Jacoby positions the case in the politics of the post–World 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. (20090531)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There is a lifetime of erudition—about American society, the Soviet Union, and the way people bend their perceptions to fit their beliefs—in this wise and careful look at an episode that for decades inspired heated diatribes. Jacoby points out that those of us who don''t believe in Hiss''s innocence should still care about the issues of civil liberties that the case raised—and which are still highly relevant today."—Adam Hochschild, author of Half the Way Home and Bury the Chains

(Adam Hochschild )

“Jacoby offers a sprightly and thoughtful overview of the Hiss case, and considers its impact on several generations of liberal and conservative intellectuals. Her nuanced conclusions may not win the approval of either pro- or anti-Hiss partisans, but should prove all the more useful to the general reader.”—Maurice Isserman, Hamilton College

(Isserman, Maurice )

“Fascinating, accessible, and persuasive, Susan Jacoby makes it clear why the Hiss case and the diverse responses to and uses of it matter. She will upset, if not outrage, people on both sides of the political spectrum.”—Harvey J. Kaye, author of Thomas Paine and the Promise of America

(Kaye, Harvey J. )

"[The] book is most memorable for the passion with which Jacoby trumpets certain sensible but often overlooked truths."—David Greenberg, The Washington Post

(David Greenberg Washington Post )

About the Author

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; First edition (March 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300121334
• ISBN-13: 978-0300121339
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,190,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not another book on Alger Hiss, March 25, 2009

By 

Ronald H. Clark (WASHINGTON, DC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alger Hiss and the Battle for History (Icons of America) (Hardcover)

Having read many books on Alger Hiss, my first reaction to Susan Jacoby's new book on Hiss was to wonder why at this point in time is there the need for yet another treatment of the Hiss case. However, Jacoby has written some outstanding books I have reviewed on Amazon, so I took a chance. It must be made clear at the outset that Jacoby here is not refighting the issue of Hiss's conviction for perjury (with which she agrees) or whether he was a Communist spy (about which she is more skeptical). Rather her goal is to show how the Hiss issue has played a continuing role in American politics since the late 1940's in many unfortunate connections. For example, it has been used by the right she believes to try and conflate liberalism with Communism; to serve as a device for attacking the New Deal and its programs; and for converting once liberal folks like Irving Kristol into the neocons of today. In short, as she puts it, there are ideological fault lines in American thought that directly connect with the Hiss case.

Jacoby traces the case, explores the backgrounds of Hiss and Whittaker Chambers, sets the context by discussing Nixon and McCarthy, and relates Hiss to the postwar "witch hunts" and cold war mentality that kept many Americans on edge throughout the last five decades. Along the way, she throws out some interesting thought provokers: was Hiss just like Daniel Ellsberg?; what actual damage did the supposed Communist spy rings actually inflict?; does Watergate's disgrace of Nixon establish Hiss's innocence?; do recent releases from the Kremlin files exonerate or condemn Hiss? Again and again she returns to the central issue: why has this late 1940's episode played such a continuing role in American politics virtually up to the present? The author has included a helpful chronology, six pages of notes and a selected bibliography. For folks younger than say 40, the Hiss case must seem as relevant to today as wearing a bustle. But Jacoby demonstrates how this strange episode has shaped in part the political environment we confront today.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremists beware, June 9, 2011

By 

Michael Brown (Cleveland, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alger Hiss and the Battle for History (Icons of America) (Paperback)

I found the book to be quite good and some of the reviewers here have completely missed the point, namely this is less a work of historical investigation, and more an interesting analysis of the reactions of both the Right and Left to the affair. The arguments of that time are stated and reassessed, and later the author parallels them to other ideological conflicts of later years. In this regard the book is extremely useful and other readers should ignore the verbose and borderline pompous critiques of some other reviewers. Case studies are intriguing for the ability to spark debate and suggest parallels to other circumstances, which I why I highly recommend the book.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A broad perspective on the Alger Hiss affair, October 14, 2011

By 

R. M. Peterson (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alger Hiss and the Battle for History (Icons of America) (Hardcover)

The central question of this book is NOT whether Alger Hiss was guilty - either of espionage for the Soviets in the late 1930s and early 1940s or of perjury in 1948 concerning his relationship with Whittaker Chambers. Rather, the book examines why, over the decades, so many people on both the right and the left have been so exercised and strident over Alger Hiss and his prosecution. "What remains important about the Hiss case today is its ability to strike chords located along ideological fault lines that, in spite of many cultural shifts, extend from the 1930s to the present." By itself, the Hiss case would seem to be a rather minor matter, especially sixty years later. But the "Hiss Affair" (some have hyperbolically argued that it is this country's Dreyfus Affair) has become a lightning rod for larger issues, especially those relating to when, and how far, the government may infringe on individual civil liberties in the name of national security. As Susan Jacoby says early in ALGER HISS AND THE BATTLE FOR HISTORY, "Ask anyone what he or she thinks of HUAC or McCarthy and their effect on civil liberties in the years after the Second World War, and you don't need to ask where he or she stands on the Patriot Act today."

That, of course, is somewhat of a rhetorical overstatement, the sort no sober-minded historian should make but one perhaps acceptable in a work of political analysis. ALGER HISS AND THE BATTLE FOR HISTORY definitely belongs to the latter category and there is a fair amount of similar rhetoric. If you need to know in advance what Jacoby's political orientation is, she admits to being a liberal - though she never was a Hiss supporter or apologist. By and large, however, I found most of her comments and analysis to be more "centrist" or ironically detached in nature than partisan.

Although a history of the Hiss case per se is not its mission, the book perforce covers the case in broad outline, from the HUAC hearings and original prosecutions for perjury, to Hiss's efforts for the remainder of his life to redeem his reputation, to the studies (adverse to Hiss) based on intelligence documents released in the 1990s by Russia and the National Security Agency. Unfortunately, there appear to be a few factual inaccuracies in Jacoby's account, which, though minor, are a little disquieting. As for the analysis, again there a few slips: occasional sloppiness or over-the-top irrelevancies or non sequiturs. (It appears that the book could have benefited from a stronger edit, assuming, wistfully, that there was any meaningful editing at all.)

On the whole, however, I found ALGER HISS AND THE BATTLE FOR HISTORY worthwhile and provocative. In trying to follow partisan politics in the United States, one can easily become engrossed in week-to-week or election-by-election skirmishes and issues. ALGER HISS AND THE BATTLE FOR HISTORY encourages a much broader and longer perspective.