An edition of Whittaker Chambers (1997)

Whittaker Chambers

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Whittaker Chambers
Sam Tanenhaus, Sam Tanenhaus
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Last edited by ImportBot
January 15, 2023 | History
An edition of Whittaker Chambers (1997)

Whittaker Chambers

  • 1 Want to read
  • 1 Have read

Nearly half a century after giving the testimony that sent Alger Hiss to prison, Whittaker Chambers remains among the most controversial of twentieth-century Americans, hated by many, revered by others.

Whittaker Chambers is the first biography of this complex and enigmatic figure. Drawing on dozens of interviews and on materials from forty archives in the United States and abroad - including still-classified KGB dossiers - Sam Tanenhaus traces the remarkable journey that led Chambers from a sleepy Long Island village to center stage in America's greatest political trial and then, in his last years, to a unique role as the godfather of post-war conservatism.

Whittaker Chambers is rich in startling new information about every phase of its subject's varied life: his days as New York's "hottest literary Bolshevik"; his years as a Communist agent and then defector, hunted by the KGB; his conversion to Quakerism; his secret sexual turmoil; his turbulent decade at Time, where he rose from the obscurity of the book-review page to transform the magazine into an oracle of apocalyptic anti-Communism.

But all this was merely a prelude to the memorable events that began in August 1948, when Chambers was summoned by a congressional committee to testify about his past as a Communist agent. Reluctantly, he divulged his key part in a spy ring that had penetrated the most sensitive areas of the U.S. government, including the State Department, where one of his accomplices, Alger Hiss, had risen to a senior position.

Chamber's allegations, and Hiss's prompt, emphatic denial, held the nation spellbound - and initiated a drama that changed the face of America. Drawing on an array of new sources, including transcripts of secret HUAC testimony, Whittaker Chambers goes far beyond all previous accounts of the Hiss case, re-creating its improbable twists and turns, and disentangling the motives that propelled a vivid cast of characters in unpredictable directions.

Publisher
Random House

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers: a biography
1998, Random House
in English
Cover of: Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers
December 1997, Blackstone Audiobooks
Audio cassette in English - UNABRIDGED edition
Cover of: Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers: a biography
1997, Random House
in English - 1st ed.
Cover of: Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers
Publish date unknown, Random House
Paperback

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Book Details


The Physical Object

Format
Paperback

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL8528368M
ISBN 10
0965057828
ISBN 13
9780965057820
Library Thing
70121
Goodreads
2223074

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
January 15, 2023 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
January 15, 2023 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
August 10, 2010 Edited by IdentifierBot added LibraryThing ID
April 24, 2010 Edited by Open Library Bot Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs.
April 30, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from amazon.com record