United States, Human Rights, Social Sciences, International & World Politics, General, Intelligence & Espionage, Richard Nixon, Nixon, Communism, Espionage, Trials 

"Every American schoolchild knows of the crimes of Alger Hiss, a man whose very name rings with villainy. Communist, spy, perjurer - all of these accusations were bandied around in public and led to Hiss's downfall. Outside the US, Alger Hiss is less well-known, but the man who caused Hiss's downfall, Richard Nixon, became notorious because of his own crimes in government. Now, prize-winning thriller-writer Joan Brady has written a powerful book which demolishes the evidence against Hiss and shows how Nixon manipulated the press and public by forging evidence and riding roughshod over Hiss's rights. Research for her book followed a long friendship with Hiss after his release from prison, and her curiosity turned to outrage when she discovered how he had been treated. But why would Nixon rig such a case? Brady explains that he needed to establish anti-communist credentials at a time of Red-hunting hysteria in the US at the time he was standing as a right-wing candidate, and Hiss was his scapegoat, just as Alfred Dreyfus in France in 1894 was convicted of espionage on a wave of anti-semitism. Dreyfus was eventually cleared of his crimes; Alger Hiss never has been. Brady draws strong parallels with today, with the war on terrorism sometimes being used to silence or threaten critics of government policies in the US and the UK. Written in a vivid and personal style, America's Dreyfus reads like a one of Brady's thrillers, although every word is true." - Voila 

Content:
Part 1: Alger Hiss comes to dinner
Part 2: HUAC in hot pursuit
Part 3: Smoking guns
Part 4: The trial of the century
Part 5: Aftermath
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Endnotes
Pictures Credits
Index  

Includes bibliographical references (pages 345-376) and index.