Alger Hiss's Looking-Glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy
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Alger Hiss waged a life-ling battle to persuade people of his innocence of charges of spying for the Soviet Union, a battle White (U. of Virginia Law School) finds puzzling due to what White believes is his obvious guilt. He traces Hiss's entire adult life, portraying it as always consisting of "a series of looking glass wars" or a series of crises in which secrets were threatened with exposure, to which Hiss would respond in a distinctive way, always portraying himself as victim and scapegoat in both personal and career matters. White also revisits Allen Weinstein's 1976 book Perjury, defending it against charges of sloppy scholarship in its treatment of the Alger Hiss-Whitaker Chambers case. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR The New York Times If you are too young to care much about Alger Hiss, move on. Turn away also if you recall the case and still believe Hiss never fed secrets to Soviet agents. But if you accept Hiss's guilt, as most historians now do, you will profit from G. Edward White's supplementary speculations about why, after prison, that serene and charming man sacrificed his marriage, exploited a son's love and abused the trust of fervent supporters to wage a 42-year struggle for a vindication that could never be honestly gained. — Max Frankel
List of IllustrationsPrefaceIntroduction1Family and Marriage32Exposure353Prison814The Campaign for Vindication1175The Campaign Gains Momentum1436The Intervention of Allen Weinstein1737The Russian Connection2018Alger Hiss's Looking-Glass Wars237Afterword251Notes255Index289
