Customer Reviews

The View from Alger's Window: A Son's Memoir

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For every parent who has endured separation from a child, for every childhood filled wiwth longing to connect with an absent parent, Tony Hiss's beeautifully written memoir touches the heart. Played against the trial of the century, this is a true American classic, Father's Day book of the year.

Tony Hiss's book is one of the best books I've had the chance to read in recent years. He has made a concentrated attempt to put himself in his father's place during the nearly four years Alger Hiss spent in prison. It is thus truly an inside picture of Alger, his prison experience, and the forced separation from his family and friends. The author has combed his parents' letters from this period and has revealed much from them that give insights into Alger and Priscilla Hiss and the nature of their unusual marriage. Unlike some of the doctrinaire right wingers who have contributed other reviews to Amazon.com, I don't know if we'll ever know if Alger Hiss was guilty of espionage. Nor do I entirely agree with the thesis that if Alger was able to write such wonderful letters to his wife and son, he could not have been a Communist or a traitor. Suffice it to say, he did suffer a great fall in prestige and a public humiliation like few people in American history. Yet he remained remarkably unbitter about his experience. And as Tony demonstrates, prison made him a more complete human being. Yet, regardless of his guilt, he paid a high price, and this book helps the reader understand the nature of that price. Tony Hiss is remarkably open about many aspects of his family in this memorable book that I found hard to put down.

"The View from Alger's Window" is a memoir, simply and beautifully told, of a sensitive, perceptive boy growing up in the most unusual of circumstances. In my work as a therapist, I quest for ways to help patients turn adversity to advantage. I found tremendous value in the story of how Alger Hiss, imprisoned at the height of his career, saw jail as a place for "learning and growing," not a place to become bitter. Tony Hiss's story of his own psychological development is also revelatory-how he became emotionally frozen, how he created his own identity, how he grew up in the shadow of Alger Hiss and also in his father's light. Let the controvery over Alger Hiss's guilt or innocence rage elsewhere. Tony Hiss's story is a unique one, uniquely told.

This is not a book about the guilt or innocence of Alger Hiss. It is a book about growing up with an enormously playful, intelligent and kind father who was demonized by the media and popular thought. It is a tragedy that Alger Hiss's incarceration was the turning point in his relationship with his son, Tony.

Tony Hiss did not write THE VIEW FROM ALGER'S WINDOW about the Hiss case; he wrote it about his relationship with his father. It is moving, beautifully written, fascinating -- a window into the mind of a man whom few knew, and into the boy who now, as a father himself, looks back at his own childhood.

Those who see this book as anything other than that are grossly deluded.

I enjoyed this book for many of the reasons some writers here hated it, the author just doesn't quite "get" that his father was a spy, and while I don't care one whit about the history of the cold war (which is ancient history to me) I was fascinated by this son's attempt to romanticize his father and decipher a relationship which was, at different times, warm and false.

Who really gets to know the core thoughts of his or her parents? Not Tony. But I don't think that makes him so unusual. There's something strangely fascinating about the halo most children give to their parents. Alger Hiss was at peace with himself, it seems clear in hindsight, because he either believed in his work as a spy (something which isn't all that unusual for those times) or he was one of those people who could delude himself into thinking that night was day (also not that unusual, call it OJ Simpson-itis).

One gets no clue from this book that the son ever got into the head of the father when it comes to these questions, and yet I think that makes it interesting document, how many adult children can say the same thing? Those who read this book uncritically, of course, and don't see the cat and mouse game that the author is playing with himself, are being silly.

Gee, isn't it nice that Tony Hiss loved his dad. I just wish his dad had loved his country. The evidence is clear, despite what some obstinate liberals think, that Alger Hiss was a traitor. He spied for a totalitarian state that murdered millions of its own citizens, putting loyalty to communist theory ahead of the interests of his fellow citizens.

Now that all the evidence is in, Alger Hiss was without a doubt, one of the most dangerous and destructive spies in American history. Hiss was a confidant of Harry Hopkins, President Roosevelt's top policy advisor. Hiss reported on American plans concerning post World War Two Eastern Europe. This allowed Stalin to go ahead with his takeover of these helpless countries. Tony believes his father was not a Soviet Agent Spy but the Venona decoded documents (now on the National Security Agency web site) prove that Alger was a traitor and a card carrying member of the International Communist Party plus being an enemy of America. I believe you should read this book and then order: THE RED HUNTER BY WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY AND VENONA: DECODING SOVIET ESPIONAGE IN AMERICA. Roy Cohen appeared on Larry King Live before his death and said: "Joe McCarthy was right about the Reds in our government and Alger Hiss was one of the most damaging!" I couldn't agree more. I saw most of the McCarthy hearings on the old 1950's black and white TV and it was clear THEN that Hiss was guilty.

This excellent book is beautifuly written and proves the sterling character of Alger Hiss. Hiss was framed by three of America's mid-century most evil men...Richard Nixon, Whitaker Chambers and J. Edgar Hoover. Alger Hiss was a Jeffersonian democrat who will be honored in the long run of history as a key man in the Roosevelt administration and the Secretary General of the United Nations during its founding conference in San Francisco in 1945. Pass the book along to your grandchildren,for it will become a valuable document of 20th Century America.

This is one of those books. In addition to not being a communist(DO YOU EXPECT ANY OTHER CONCLUSION FROM TONY HISS?), did you know Alger loved Picasso and VanGogh? He also loved his family and wrote letters from Lewisberg penitentiary -- you don't say! B L A H ! ! ! !

let the record show that alan weinstein said he came to write about hiss with no pre-conceived opinions about hiss, that he probably was more inclned to believe in his innocence. this was not true. it was documented that weinstein had already written an article about hiss that indicated that he thought hiss was a spy. to re-- peat, he had written this before he ostensibly started to write his objective book about hiss. to quote weinstein as proof of hiss' guilt is a joke. this is a warm, loving book about a man's love for his father. tony hiss makes a better defense of his father than his father ever made of himself. that and some beautiful writing is at the heart of this book.