| Alger Hiss, Whittaker Chambers, and the Schism in the American Soul Contributor(s): Swan, Patrick (Author) |
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ISBN: 1882926919 ISBN-13: 9781882926916 Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute OUR PRICE: $15.26 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: January 2003 Annotation: Marking the 50th anniversary of the publication of Whittaker Chambers's spiritual autobiography "Witness, " Swan anthologizes 23 of the best essays ever written on Chambers and Alger Hiss by Leslie Fiedler, Arthur Koestler, and William F. Buckley Jr. These writers comment on the two men while expressing their own divergent opinions on the nature of communism (and anticommunism), liberalism, and many other issues. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - 20th Century - Political Science | Political Ideologies - Communism, Post-communism & Socialism - Political Science | Essays |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2002107930 |
| Physical Information: 1.08" H x 6.08" W x 9.1" (1.27 lbs) 359 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1950's - Chronological Period - 20th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In 1952, Random House published Whittaker Chambers's Witness. Not only did it immediately become a bestseller; it was recognized by many as one of the great spiritual autobiographies of the twentieth century. In Alger Hiss, Whittaker Chambers, and the Schism in the American Soul, editor Patrick Swan marks the fiftieth anniversary of Witness's publication by anthologizing 23 of the best essays ever written on Chambers, Hiss, or both. Essays by literary luminaries such as Leslie Fiedler, Arthur Koestler, Lionel Trilling, Rebecca West, Murray Kempton, and William F. Buckley Jr. tell the story of these two fascinating (and ultimately mysterious) men and of what they and their conflict represented. Sampling the entire spectrum of respectable thought on Hiss and Chambers, these pieces do not, as a rule, trouble themselves much with the facts of the case; Hiss's guilt was not so much in doubt then, and is certainly well documented by now. But the essayists' divergent opinions on the nature of communism (and anticommunism), liberalism, the proper relationship between religion and politics, and many other issues remain provocative -- perhaps even more so now than when they were written. |