As a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee, Richard Nixon led the investigations that first drew attention to Alger Hiss and his purported ties to the Soviet regime. These investigations eventually led to the discovery of "proof" that Hiss was a mole in the State Department and precipitated a trial that would eventually ruin him and propel Nixon to the Presidency.
But what if the "proof" that eventually led to Hiss's conviction was forged?
In this riveting investigation, Joan Brady—winner of The Whitbread Book of the Year—reveals how Nixon manipulated a media and public in the thrall of post-war anti-communist hysteria to make a fabricated case against Hiss, and draws a strong parallel with the French, who a half-century before turned Alfred Dreyfus into a scapegoat for anti-Semitism.
Alger Hiss: Framed is necessary and timely, telling soberly the tale of a nation in the grip of paranoid fear and the man who took most advantage of this fear.
Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a
New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
A clear-eyed investigation into what is probably the biggest, longest cover-up in American history.
"Joan Brady's highly readable take on Alger Hiss adds valuable, new personal information to his ever-fascinating story. It will be of interest not merely to scholars of the case, but anyone who cares about history and getting it right."—;Victor Navasky, Publisher Emeritus of
The Nation, author of National Book Award winning
Naming Names"Joan Brady has written an evocative, graceful memoir filled with novel reminiscences of her friendship with Alger Hiss. It is a most unusual book, using memory and a Talmudic examination of legal texts to explore the still contested terrain of the Hiss trials. As such, it is sure to incense those historians and partisans wedded to the national narrative crafted by Whittaker Chambers and Richard Nixon. Insightful and provocative, Brady has reopened the Hiss case to a new generation of readers. "—Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer"Joan Brady's
Alger Hiss: Framed, a personal story about the Alger Hiss case, written by one of our most talented and accomplished writers, is a wonderfully vivid account that conveys the intensity of some of the darkest days in our post-WWII history. It's also full of revelatory new material about the case that started young Richard Nixon on his road to the White House and convinced Americans that the Reds really were threatening our freedom. It’s time to revisit this extraordinary story, which historians have been debating for the last half-century; Brady's fresh and compelling book will introduce a new generation to the trial that transformed America."—Jon Wiener, Professor of History, University of California, Irvine
". . . a bracing reminder of what indeed was so hateful, so villainous about Nixon and his political ascent."—
The Spectator"[an] extraordinary book . . . part autobiography, part memoir of Hiss, part thriller, and also a reminder of what happens when a society becomes infected by the paranoia that produced the American 'Red Scare' after the First and Second World Wars."—
The New Statesman"Brady's book . . . offers a unique perspective . . . she is an expert storyteller."—
The Guardian
