Read About Patrick A. Swan Read the Preface Read the Introduction

ALGER HISS, WHITTAKER CHAMBERS, AND THE SCHISM IN THE AMERICAN SOUL
Edited by Patrick A. Swan
with an Introduction by Wilfred M. McClay

List Item No. 328 ISBN: 1-882926-85-4 (cloth) 391 pages List Price: $29.95
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List Item No. 328a ISBN: 1-882926-91-9 (paper) 391 pages List Price: $16.95
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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.

The truth is, as Wilfred McClay points out in his introduction, Chambers's predictions on where the slippery slope of Western skepticism was likely to lead us are less easily dismissed today than they were fifty years ago. The new biotechnologies "place in human hands the power to make over the human condition," writes McClay. And so Chambers, "perhaps without having known or intended it, [was] addressing himself to something like the very prospect we now face, not because of some foreign threat, but because of the flourishing of certain aspects of our own victorious civilization." The question Chambers posed so starkly in Witness—God or man?—remains, then, worth considering, and nowhere is it more arrestingly considered than in the essays included here.

What They're Saying...

"This collection of essays—featuring pieces by Leslie Fiedler, Irving Howe and Rebecca West, among many other worthies—indicates the continued salience of one of the most far-reaching real-life dramas of 20^th-century American history."
—Philadelphia Inquirer

"The guilt of Alger Hiss becomes clearer with each passing year, as does the heroism of Whittaker Chambers. Patrick A. Swan has edited a generous and enlightening anthology of some of the best writings to try to make sense of that historic case…."
—National Review

"A compilation of scholarly and analytical essays by twenty-three learned authors, Alger Hiss, Whittaker Chambers, and the Schism in the American Soul offers a series of impressive, informative discourses upon some of the most divisive and paranoid years in American history. [It] is a very highly recommended addition to 20^th century American History reference collections."
—Midwest Book Review

"Alger Hiss, Whittaker Chambers, and the Schism in the American Soul samples a half-century's commentary on the controversy that refuses to die. It's no surprise that some evaluations are polar opposites…but common ground also emerges, particularly in the descriptions of the two antagonists."
—Wilson Quarterly

"This is a collection of 23 essays from such heavy weights as Diana and Lionel Trilling, William F. Buckley Jr., Rebecca West, Hugh Kenner, Sam Tanenhaus, Murray Kempton, and others. They not only comment on various aspects of the case but also shed light on the broader controversies that engulfed the country…"
—Library Journal

"The Hiss-Chambers case was one of the great symbolic struggles of the 20th century—'interesting less for its details than for how it illuminated the intense commitments and clashes of the American Left and the Right during the Cold War. Patrick Swan's fine collection of essays shows how it became a compelling metaphor for the whole period and deserves a spot on every bookshelf, right beside Witness."
—John J. Miller, National Review

"This is an informed, balanced, and exciting collection of readings on one of the most important clashes of twentieth century America. I recommend it to anyone seriously pondering the differences, both intellectual and moral, between Right and Left since the Second World War."
—Thomas C. Reeves, author, The Life and Times of Joe McCarthy

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