I am not a historian and so when I comment on the historological methods here, I am doing this as an amateur, or more as someone trained in a different methodology. But this not a history so much as a summary of other histories. On the one hand, there are some primary texts analyzed, but they are more so things like biographies and autobiographies of the concerned parties rather than more traditional kinds of historical documents.
I don’t know much about Alger Hiss except as a historical allusion that shows up in movies and books from time to time. And because of this I was considerably misinformed. It turns out that he was vigorously defended against spying and probably still is by many respectable figures. It also seems like he’s more of a pariah than a scapegoat or patsy. He seems both sympathetic and guilty at the same time. For me, it seems to makes that on the one hand, he likely spied. But what is missing from this understanding is the context under which he would have done so. I assumed he was connected to Cold War Russian spying, and apparently he’s accused of being a Soviet agent or informer during the 1930s. And other than a general aversion or sense that maybe that’s the not the best idea…I can’t 100% get that mad about it, given our relationship with Russia up until 1945.
So he’s sympathetic in that sense. But he also seems to be a rather dishonest person, always trying to crawl back into the public eye in a redemptive narrative. So he’s not all the different from Edward Snowden in a lot of ways, but refused to accept responsibility for his spying. I don’t actually agree with the notion that whistleblowers and spies ought to face their actions in that way, but oh well.
Anyway, this book itself is not great. It’s a summary history, and that’s good because I am not going to become obsessed with the case, so this will do. But it’s also small and short, and there’s an air or tone of superiority from the book, as if Susan Jacoby knows better than everyone else.
(Photo: https://www.amazon.com/Alger-Battle-History-Icons-America/dp/0300164416/ref=sr_1_14?crid=2R19DDANRGHB2&keywords=alger+hiss&qid=1553011300&s=gateway&sprefix=alger+hiss%2Caps%2C511&sr=8-14)