Rewriting hisstory : a fifty-year journey to uncover the truth about Alger Hiss / Jeff Kisseloff.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kisseloff, Jeff, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hiss, Alger--Trials, litigation, etc.

Hiss, Alger.

Subversive activities--United States--History--20th century.

Subversive activities.

Communism--United States--History--20th century.

Communism.

Espionage, Soviet--United States--History--20th century.

Espionage, Soviet.

United States. Department of State--Officials and employees--Biography.

United States.

United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities.

Cold War.

United States--Politics and government--1945-1989.

Physical Description:

xiii, 376 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Fifty-year journey to uncover the truth about Alger Hiss

Place of Publication:

Lawrence : University Press of Kansas, [2025]

Summary:

"A revelatory political history that uncovers the innocence of alleged Communist spy Alger Hiss and points a finger at who was really behind one of the most sensational and divisive accusations of the twentieth century.When Alger Hiss was accused by Whittaker Chambers in 1948 of being a secret Communist spy in the 1930s, the subsequent perjury trials were some of the most sensational and politically significant trials of the century. Although Hiss was convicted, he maintained his innocence until his death, and historians have taken sides ever since. In this groundbreaking and revelatory book, Jeff Kisseloff brings new perspective, evidence, and accusations to this historical controversy.Rewriting Hisstory is a firsthand account of how over fifty years, beginning when he worked for Hiss as a college student in the mid-1970s, Kisseloff was eventually able to determine the truth about Alger Hiss. With the skills of a veteran reporter and the analytical mind of a scholar, he brings to light a wealth of original material, including 150,000 pages of mostly unredacted previously unreleased FBI files-which he sued the FBI to obtain-and other documents from government and library collections around the country. Kisseloff also acquired a key piece of evidence: Woodstock 230099, the machine that the government claimed was used to type the copies of State Department documents placed in evidence against Hiss.Taken together, Kisseloff has pieced together the truth, showing that Hiss was neither a Communist nor a spy and that the government knew it. But if Hiss didn't produce the documents that were placed in evidence against him, who did? After careful research and by applying a process of elimination used in classic crime novels-who had the means, motive, and opportunity to do the job-Kisseloff points his finger at the only people who fit all three qualifications.An act of vindication for one of the most divisive figures in the twentieth century, Rewriting Hisstory is a thrilling political page-turner about an accused spy that is itself a work of scholarly espionage, built on decades of painstaking research. This is an iconoclastic work that should rewrite history books"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The Hiss Case and Me

Introduction: It All Goes Back to Hiss

With the Hiss Forces

Alger Hiss: From Liberal to.... Liberal?

Vivian

The Evidence

The Lawyers and the Peaches

Chambers and Hiss: The Relationship

The Question of Espionage

The Woodstock Story

The Contents of the Pumpkin

The Question of the Typist

Edith Murray

The Mystery of the Rugs

Francis Sayre's Betrayal

Hede Massing

The Mystery of Julian Wadleigh

The Photographers' Secrets

Chambers' Break with the Party

Means, Motive, and Opportunity

Cold War: Chilly Relations at State

The Roots of the Hiss Case

The Conspiracy Against Alger Hiss.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Kisseloff, Jeff. Rewriting hisstory

ISBN:

9780700638338

0700638334

OCLC:

1446417256