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Whittaker Chambers.
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In 1948 TIME magazine editor Whittaker Chambers (1901-1961) testified that in the 1930s he helped organize a Communist spy ring in the U.S. government. His accusations against State Department officia...
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Whittaker Chambers was a confessed spy for the Soviet Union and the chief witness in the 1949 perjury trials of Alger Hiss. Chambers accused Hiss, who had been an important official with the U.S. Stat...
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Whittaker Chambers achieved public renown as the principal informant in what became the greatest espionage trial of the Cold War. In August 1948 Chambers informed the House of Representatives' Committ...
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In the following review, Raynolds discusses Witness as a piece of crime fiction, a work of political philosophy, and a testament to moral corruption.
Witness is an impressive report on a representativ...
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In the following essay, Abbott contrasts Witness and Lillian Hellman's Scoundrel Time, contending that “both these autobiographies fail from the standpoint of political theory.”
C...
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In the following review, Sobran praises the erudition, positive tone, and diversity of the subject matter of Ghosts on the Roof.
The price of believing Alger Hiss has been to cut oneself off from Whit...
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In the following essay, Horner assesses Chambers's work as a writer for Time and Life magazines, asserting that “although for some, Chambers's way of looking at things will retain...
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In the following essay, Tanenhaus surveys Chambers's literary and journalistic work.
Within the space of a generation—that is, since 1964, when Cold Friday was published to tepid reviews...
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In the following review, Brogan maintains that Cold Friday provides much insight into Chambers's life and character.
A man who knew Whittaker Chambers well once told me that he did not believe ...
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In the following review, the critic provides a favorable assessment of Notes from the Underground.
[Notes from the Underground] is an intriguing and illuminating correspondence between two of America&...
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In the following laudatory review of Notes from the Underground, Buckley describes the friendship between Chambers and journalist Ralph de Toledano, asserting that the letters “beckon to sensit...
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In the following essay, Draper traces Chambers's involvement with the Communist party, his part in the Alger Hiss trial, and the importance of his ideas.
Unlike Alger Hiss, Whittaker Chambers l...
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In the following review, Cogley derides what he perceives as Chambers's overblown, messianic self-image in Witness.
In the opening pages of Witness Whittaker Chambers writes,
It is a terrible b...
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In the following essay, originally published in The Nation in 1952, Howe explores the role of religion and Chambers's approach to Stalinism in Witness, and deems the autobiography disjointed, h...
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In the following review of Odyssey of a Friend, Cort asserts that Chambers's letters expose a superficiality and intellectual narcissism.
The ghost of the late Whittaker Chambers declines to re...
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In the following review, Galbraith provides his perspective on the Hiss-Chambers case and emphasizes the insight and value of the letters in Odyssey of a Friend.
One evening in January, 1950, I was st...
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In the following positive review, Sheed maintains that Odyssey of a Friend provides insight into Chambers's true political ideology, religious beliefs, friendships, and personality.
A reviewer ...
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In the following review of Odyssey of a Friend, Niemeyer explores the enduring impact of the Hiss-Chambers case.
Apart from the praiseworthiness of Henry Regnery's initiative, what is the meani...
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In the following essay, McGurn addresses the repercussions of the Hiss-Chambers case, particularly on the conservative movement in the United States.
Twenty-three years after his death, thirty-two yea...
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In the following essay, Nieli contends that both Chambers and Eric Voegelin, a political writer and teacher, have similar ideas about Western modernity.
Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the s...
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Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers
(David) Whittaker Chambers
Critical Review by Robert Raynolds
