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Witness

4.42 of 5 stars 4.42 · rating details · 554 ratings · 103 reviews

Witness has changed the lives of countless readers since it was first published in 1952. This 50th Anniversary Edition recounts Whittaker Chambers' early work with the Communist Party, his later renunciation of communism, and the astounding Hiss-Chambers spy trial in a book that packs the emotional wallop-and literary power-of a classic Russian novel.

Paperback, 808 pages

Published August 1st 1987 by Regnery Publishing (first published May 12th 1952)

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Oct 23, 2007 Ben rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: favorites

If you hate politics, if you loathe old Cold War battles, if you have no interest in any of such things, you should still pick up this book. It is more eloquent and moving than anything you will ever read on the subject. And if you still do not believe me, then pick it up, and read the chapter entitled "The Child."

My wife ran over to me, took my hands, and burst into tears. ��Dear heart,�� she said in a pleading voice, ��we couldn��t do that awful thing to a little baby, not to a little baby...more

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Nov 18, 2007 Conrad rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

Witness, which treats the truth like a part-time mistress, is a masterpiece of evasion and embellishment, a perfect portrait of neurosis, and at the same time a hyperarticulate tale of religious conversion and helpless do-gooding. I suspect that some on the left still bother to revile Whitaker Chambers because they see him as a patsy for the Nixons and McCarthys of the world, an opportunistic imprisoner of innocents, and neglect the vortex of self-doubt and mystery that remains at the center of...more Witness, which treats the truth like a part-time mistress, is a masterpiece of evasion and embellishment, a perfect portrait of neurosis, and at the same time a hyperarticulate tale of religious conversion and helpless do-gooding. I suspect that some on the left still bother to revile Whitaker Chambers because they see him as a patsy for the Nixons and McCarthys of the world, an opportunistic imprisoner of innocents, and neglect the vortex of self-doubt and mystery that remains at the center of this, his autobiography.

Chambers was the man who fingered Alger Hiss and prompted a lot of the Red Scare by persuading The Powers That Be that the State Department was riddled with Communists. Not just any Communists, not just functionaries and toadies and fellow travelers, but malevolent pathological liars with a dirty secret desire to destroy the United States. The twist was that he could identify these people because he had been one of them! Whitaker's story goes that after serving for years as a loyal Red he suffered a crisis of conscience after hearing of Stalin's treaty with Hitler. He describes furtive meetings with the leaders of other sleeper cells; drop point procedures for communications with higher ups; procedures for smuggling NKVD agents into the U.S.; his guilt at finding real friendship with Government employees upon whom he spied under orders from Moscow. He describes Alger Hiss as a true believer who would have done anything to bring down the Republic, and who influenced Roosevelt to take it a little easier on Stalin than he should have.

There are a lot of things wrong with Chambers' story, but perhaps not so much as his detractors purport. Chambers was a closeted homosexual, a compulsive cruiser who conveniently omitted this aspect of his life from his own autobiography. Who can blame him, though? Alger Hiss's guilt or innocence does not hang on Chambers' sexual practices. Knowing this about Chambers does plant a seed of doubt in the reader's mind, since Chambers describes his marriage in such minute detail. Chambers spent the ass-end of his life insisting to anyone that would listen that Moscow had high-level plants in the American government. He also benefited personally and professionally from his denunciations. But the level of detail when Chambers describes how Stalin personally ordered the liquidation of Trotsky's supporters within the CPUSA is too exacting to have been invented out of thin air.

People will argue until the end of memory over whether Alger Hiss was really a Communist agent, though the newly uncovered evidence detailed in The Mitrokhin Archive would seem to indicate that he was. It is much to its detriment that the Left in America still has such trouble reconciling anti-Stalinism with its own criticisms of American capitalism, and it's likewise to our detriment that we liberals still dismiss Chambers out of hand. Personally, I think we should admire Chambers' early commitment to social justice as well as his rejection of Communism over the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

But all that aside, Witness's literary qualities make it well worth reading, and Chambers is a textbook example of unreliable narration, no less than the narrators of Cheever's story "Goodbye, My Brother" or Ishiguro's A Pale View of Hills. My heart broke when I read about the author's awful childhood, and I cheered him on as he found a measure of inner peace with the Quakers. When he praises Richard Nixon for his zeal and humility, the book left me wondering: don't good people sometimes ally themselves with bad people for good reasons? But isn't that exactly what Molotov probably told himself, too? There are no conclusive answers in this most slippery of stories. And however you feel about Hiss, McCarthyism, or Communism, no one doubts the eloquence or intelligence of this book's voice.(less)

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Kathy Conrad, I liked your review, and I liked your willingness to judge WITNESS on its literary merits. Like you, I believe it is one of the great works of...more
updated Jun 13, 2008 03:39pm

Conrad Hi Kathy, I was just rereading your comments on this review (three years later) and I should point out, I wasn't making the Molotov comparison to impu...more
Aug 23, 2011 11:04am

Oct 11, 2007 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars

Perhaps the greatest work of political biography of the 20th century. Chambers spent many years in the Communist underground in Baltimore, supporting a cell of spies and subversives. Eventually he came to the Cross and escaped the despair of the Communist enterprise. His testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities exposed the depth of the Communist penetration of American institutions, and led eventually to the perjury conviction of Alger Hiss, then a respected diplomat, once...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Hortense rated it 4 of 5 stars

We followed you as far as Baltimore, at first the car just smelled like fish oil, halitosis, and seamy body odor. Your overweight sweat was not of the sweet variety ayway, the communist jitters brought to it a tincture of rancid damp cabbage and that altered the perfumes as the day. it quickly grew too warm inside the car. You insisted that the windows be rolled up and ran the heat full blast. Slob, newspaper reader, learn to use toilet paper. But we followed you -you had struck a vein of the pa...more We followed you as far as Baltimore, at first the car just smelled like fish oil, halitosis, and seamy body odor. Your overweight sweat was not of the sweet variety ayway, the communist jitters brought to it a tincture of rancid damp cabbage and that altered the perfumes as the day. it quickly grew too warm inside the car. You insisted that the windows be rolled up and ran the heat full blast. Slob, newspaper reader, learn to use toilet paper. But we followed you -you had struck a vein of the paranoia. The Paranoia of Truth.

Yes, at times we were tired of hearing about about buried typewriters in the back yard. We wanted to be like the other kids, oblivious to communist party obsessions, pledging allegiance to the flag absentmindedly, pleased by the American vacuities. But you could be so absorbing one moment and so unappealing the next. Compelling yet aggressively unsocialized, meaningless and digressive yet hugely digestive. Chewing with abandon, lying and then confessing, as regal as turpentine.

So it must have been in Baltimore that we just had to stop reading, it was right after you had covered the windows in newspaper. We had put up with all we could. When you ducked out the back door we saw the twitching of terror in the shambling confines of your body as you disappeared over a fence-- we thought that's it, that's all we really need, we believe you, and we'll never see you again. Well, at least we hoped.

But you, sir, are one hell of a narrator. You end up at Time Magazine! Which everyone under 60 now would have been condemned to read for 50 years. How could someone like you inflict that red margined mindless droll on the American living room magazine holder? and then there was that wench Clare Booth Luce who once wrote that existentialists do not think time matters. 30 years of it, madame, matter to anyone without a pustulent penchant for slow puss and nose vomit in print, ugly imaginings concurrent with massive overdoes of boredom, hollow revelations of mystic menaces, deadpan reviews of CIA approved writers, stale marzipan, and sticky glossy paper.

You were a brilliant writer, just not all that thoughtful to the end. There are many back doors to haul your fat ass out at the last minute when there is a strange car parked outside your studiously contrived non-locatable address in Baltimore, on an ugly shaded street with no house numbers. You never got mail because there were no utility bills, we never had a running fridge. But, let me count the ways an overweight man with bad breath, outrageous B.O., incredible bunions, and a vast vestibular stockyard, could be sought by creepy silent thin agents of governments.

Why Catholicism? Lionel Trilling wrote the great American novel, and it was about you.

Witness, up to a certain point, is a real stew of a book, impounding your false heart in vapors of futility. That's what I liked most about it. So Why Catholicism?

I hope someone can finish it and tell me what Chambers thought happened. I switched to Lionel Trilling 3/4ths of the way through. I know that your fortunes were set when you left us in the dark house with no electricity to run a fridge.

Like H.L. Mencken of Baltimore once said, Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

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Mar 16, 2009 Kristi rated it 5 of 5 stars

I usually do not finish an 800-page book and wish it were longer. I usually don't even read 800-page books (especially these days!), but I devoured Witness. I've heard that some conservatives have found Witness very influential in the development of their own beliefs, and it articulately and persuasively denounces Communism -- just as important, though, it's also a fascinating read. (World magazine put it in its top 10 most influential books of the 20th century re: Christian worldview.)

Witness...more I usually do not finish an 800-page book and wish it were longer. I usually don't even read 800-page books (especially these days!), but I devoured Witness. I've heard that some conservatives have found Witness very influential in the development of their own beliefs, and it articulately and persuasively denounces Communism -- just as important, though, it's also a fascinating read. (World magazine put it in its top 10 most influential books of the 20th century re: Christian worldview.)

Witness is a true-life spy story, detailing Chambers' work for the US Communist party and on behalf of the Soviet Union in the 1930s. I was amazed to learn that Communists had infiltrated the US govt at a high level -- State Dept and other federal agencies -- and not only committed espionage but also influenced US domestic policy such as the New Deal. Hmm, I remember learning only that the Red Scare was overblown and mostly affected harmless intellectual Communists like writers and Hollywood types. This book showed me that one of the successes of the Communist movement here was to seem harmless (and for its opponents to look like cranks).

Witness also shows, through its detailed account of Chambers' experience as a Communist, how evil Communism is -- anti-life, anti-love, anti-truth, etc. I knew Communism was evil, but the story Chambers tells puts flesh on this truth. Chambers rightly feared for his life (and his wife and children) when he quit working for the Communists.

Witness describes Chambers' journey from darkness to light -- first, his disillusionment with Communism; then, his becoming a Christian. Chambers includes autobiographical background info, including his childhood, so he is a fleshed-out character in the book. His integrity, willingness to suffer for the truth, and moral fiber make him an attractive figure.

All these aspects support the book's theme, i.e. how Chambers was a witness -- a witness to the truth of the Christian faith; the witness whose testimony led to Alger Hiss's imprisonment; a prophetic witness too, whose experience warns us now of the dangers of the socialist drift our government policies are taking. I started reading this book thinking it would be historically interesting -- didn't realize how relevant its message would be to current affairs. I could go on but this is long enough! (less)

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Jun 13, 2007 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

the most poetic, eloquent and compelling book i've ever read. a must read. a narrative on human nature, strength, weakness, vulnerability, and what may or may not be inevitable. but also exciting. a biography written in the first-person by a man of incredible humility, wisdom, compassion and love for his family, mankind and the world. i am lucky to have read this book. it's not religious at all but for me a religious experience no doubt. eye-opening. and i'm not easily stirred. can't recommend e...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Ben rated it 1 of 5 stars

ooh boy - what I hunk of junk this thing is.

790 pages of Chambers's pathetic mewling makes it easy to understand, even for those of us who weren't there, why so many people assumed he was dishonest. My copy includes rave reviews from Ronald Reagan, Robert Novak, George Will...that's about right.

Chambers is a true believer in every sense and at every point. He is obsessed with belief, with giving himself completely to a cause or a truth. he was driven to communism not by any reasoned interpreta...more

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May 05, 2012 D.M. Dutcher rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: classic, nonfiction

Amazing biography of a man who lead a pretty bleak childhood and fell in with the Communist Party in the 1930s. Eventually he couldn't stand it any more, and not only fled it, he was willing to testify against it.

I don't think any work of fiction could do the same subject justice. Just the record of purges, people just up and disappearing, ending up dead, or being spirited away to the USSR are sobering, but the quiet psychological moments are even worse. Paranoia, pettiness, private pain, blind...more

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Jan 14, 2012 Tony rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

WITNESS. (1952; this ed. 2002). Whittaker Chambers. ****.
This was very definitely a book of its time. When I first read it about thirty years ago, the events were relatively recent and all the characters – at least most of them – were still fresh in my mind. Chabers claim to fame, at least to most people who remember him, was as a key witness in the trial of Alger Hiss, ultimately helping to convict Hiss of espionage against the U.S. Chambers himself joined the Communist Party in about 1928, bu...more

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May 07, 2009 Motherhouse added it

Shelves: 2009-summertime-booklist

This is the story surrounding the Communist trials in the 1930's. Whittaker, a former communist, converts to the Quaker faith. His writing is very thought provoking and I found myself questioning the depth of my own convictions throughout the book, and also committing to live in a more real way. He touches on every aspect of life, from marriage and childbearing to espionage and the Resurrection. He is eloquent and profound, and if you're interested in a more intense, introspective book this is a...more

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May 31, 2012 Daniel Freedman rated it 4 of 5 stars

"Witness" should be a mandatory read for anyone interested in politics. It is a bit dated, but it reveals how the Communists worked infiltrating the power structure of the United States. Some of the revelations are really shocking. I think all governments are corrupt but the Communists took it all to a dispassionate art form.
I worked on a Kibbutz in Israel, which had Communist beginnings. There is a need in humans to belong to a group and the comfort of having others share your experiences is s...more

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Jul 15, 2009 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

What can I even say about this book? Long. Heavy in some ways. Disturbing perhaps. And yet it is full of courage, hope, forgiveness, healing, God's ability to conquer and His unfaltering loyalty to us once we turn to Him. What a phenomenal example of one who is willing to make a complete change once he finds he is wrong, even in the face of his own ruin and destruction. Yet another WITNESS that truth will prevail.

Upon typing my notes up this morning, I just had to add a few things I had overlook...more

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May 07, 2011 Vivian rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

I have to rate this five stars because of its power to change minds and thus change lives. I began "reading" it by asking my library to obtain the audio edition through inter-library loan. I got half-way through before having to return it. I then picked up my library's re-bound copy and found myself scribbling notes and page numbers on both sides of two bookmarks. I am glad the audio got me through the background and the book got the ideas through me.

Chambers is an apt and intelligent writer. He...more I have to rate this five stars because of its power to change minds and thus change lives. I began "reading" it by asking my library to obtain the audio edition through inter-library loan. I got half-way through before having to return it. I then picked up my library's re-bound copy and found myself scribbling notes and page numbers on both sides of two bookmarks. I am glad the audio got me through the background and the book got the ideas through me.

Chambers is an apt and intelligent writer. He was good friends with James Agee (who I put among the most genius of American writers)and other key thinkers of his time, which helped place him at Time Magazine during its years with Henry Luce at the helm.

Chambers was a Communist by conscience during the turbulent 1920's and 1930's and then conscientiously abandoned Communism in the mid 1930's with his wife and children. He later became a key witness under subpeona for the House Committee on Un-American Activities in the late 1940's. He had met ten years earlier with a fairly high-ranking government official and disclosed to him all the information he had at the time relating to espionage. He expected to be arrested but nothing ever came of it. Years later he learned the information had been disclosed privately to FDR who chose not to take any action.

Chambers' work in court and with typewriter was to witness FOR Christianity rather than against Communism. At one point he relates a conversation he had with another defector. This man said something to the effect that one is either a Revolutionary or a Counter-revolutionary. He meant by "revolutionary" one who is on the side of Communism and by "counter-revolutionary" one who is not. In other words, if you are not actively engaged in the counter-revolution you are actually in the camp of the revolutionary.

I had to think of this in terms of the war that is now taking place-- the war of Cosmic Humanist, Secular Humanist, and Judeo-Christian ideology in the minds and lives of the inhabitants of this planet. The revolutionary is the Secular Humanist and the counter-revolutionary is the Judeo-Christian. Cosmic Humanism, no doubt, has always been somewhat of a sub-current (as I understand it).

Chambers is most well-known as the person who informed on Alger Hiss, citing and providing evidence that Hiss was engaged in espionage (for which he could not now be tried due to the statute of limitations). Hiss, on his part, was a key player at Yalta and at the inception of the United Nations and very deeply imbedded in many departments of government. He had all the "friends", legal counsel, money, reputation, intelligencia, media, and public opinion on his side. Chambers had no money, initially no legal counsel, very little media and public, etc. on his side. And yet the legal battle stretched over several years, with even Pres. Truman calling Chambers a "red herring".

When Chambers broke with Communism he attempted to persuade Hiss to break as well. His former friendship with Hiss and his family made him reluctant to publicly cite Hiss's and other's espionage involvement.

Wikipedia articles on Chambers and on Hiss contain discrepancies and also expose distrubing flaws in Chambers' days with Communism and assert that Hiss claims to the end of his long life to have been innocent of all charges.

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Mar 22, 2011 Bliss Tew rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is a first class expose of International Communism, how Communists have worked in secret cells in America to undermine our government, who some of the important communists were in the 1940s and 1950s that infiltrated our government to subvert it and to help Stalin in his plans for world conquest, and to the fact that Communism is a conspiracy that is international in scope and most dangerous to the happiness of mankind.

It was one of my favorite autobiographies that I've read and I wish...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was a fascinating look at Communism in America from the 20s through the 40s. The cliched "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist party" definitely takes on a new meaning.

Still, some early parts of the book evoked for me "The Life of Brian," as they talk about all of the various popular fronts, etc. During Stalin's purges (much less bloody in the USA than in the USSR), American Communists were kicked out of the Party for such indiscretions as, "Lovestoneism and extr...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Wayne Laney rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have great respect for Whittaker Chambers, and think he did an admirable job expressing his rationale both for becoming a Communist and for leaving that group. His life was truly remarkable and his voice as a writer very conversational and readable. Now, several decades after the fact, I think this book is far less relevant than it must have been when published. The spectre of Communism is long past making it hard for a modern reader to understand the need for such an exhaustive history. I thi...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Randy added it

The forward is a magnificent letter to his children explaining his life. It was published separately in the Saturday Evening Post in 1952, and that edition sold out on the news stands. The rest of the book is a detailed account of his life inside the CPUSA, and the rigors of such an existence, particularly when one tries to escape the party. It also includes the details of his relationship with Alger Hiss, the State Department lawyer, and Soviet spy. Don't quibble with me. Now that we have the V...more

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Oct 11, 2011 John Harder rated it 4 of 5 stars

Throughout the Roosevelt administration the state department was infiltrated with Democrats, er, I mean communists. Whitaker Chambers, a reformed communist, was aware of the espionage and started naming names. But, unfortunately, he was not suave, just smart and sincere. This resulted in a seemingly losing battle against one of his best friends and unrepentant undercover communist, Alger Hiss. With persistence, bravery and a newly found faith in God, Mr. Chambers proved his case and became a gre...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Aaron Schulze rated it 5 of 5 stars

Witness is hard to classify because it is so many books in one. It starts out as a spy thriller and then morphs into a seemingly ordinary autobiography. Chambers then goes on to recount his embrace of Communism and all his works in the Communist underground. From there, he describes a religious conversion from a godless Communist to a devout Quaker. After his break from Communism, he describes how he reluctlantly gets embroiled in one of the most dramatic trials of the Cold War. Chambers' amazin...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Joe N. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: liberty-education

A great autobiography for anyone who wants to know how the communist mind works and how in the early 20th century, communists were able to infiltrate the U.S. government. Chambers as a young man sees the answers to the world’s problems in communism. But after about 15 years of it he decides to get out risking his life and his family’s life. Becoming a Christian and witness to the world about the evils of communism and infiltration in our U.S. government. He gives the inside story of the famous H...more

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Nov 03, 2011 Merritt Phillips rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this book back in college (1983) and I loved it. It is a biography by an editor at Time magazine who previously had worked in the communist party and who later was subpeoned to appear before the Nixon commission to investigate communists in the US government. Chambers came forward to point the finger at Alger Hiss who at that time was a member of the staff in the Secretary of States office. A pretty high ranking official who was spying full time for the Russian government during the cold...more

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Aug 23, 2011 Anne rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this book in my teens in the fifties, when the Communist threat was at its peak. I have read many thrillers since, and this book shows that truth is stranger than fiction. How one man was taken in by the comminust propaganda machine, and joined a cell. How he became dissolusioned with them and agreed to become a mole in the cell for the FBI. No book written by Dan Brown, Brad Thor, Vince Flynn or any current top thriller author could be any more exciting than this book was. As interesting...more

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Apr 15, 2011 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

Chambers writes so well, and the events of the book are so strange, that I sometimes forget that the book is not fiction. The haunting quality of the book is appropriate for its subject -- Communists in America at the time of Stalin during the depression. Chambers said that when he defected from the party, he knew he was joining the losing side. I can never decide if this reflected the limit of how far ahead he could see (forgivable at the height of the Cold War) or if, given what he had learned...more

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Apr 25, 2013 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Certainly a must for anyone who makes an ill-advised comment on the nature of 1950's Communist 'witch hunts'. It could read for an instruction manual on how to deal with today's political climate. The real story of a man who was duped by systemic evil, came out of it, and lived to stand on trial for his own sins and the underhanded dealings of others is truly mind-blowing. As in all good stories, the devil is in the details - and the means of salvation. Only, this story is true. It's like readin...more

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Apr 09, 2012 Brian Albrecht rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, faith

Is a book that is over 50 years old worth reviewing? Yes. Because it is timeless and if this review provokes one person to read it, I will have done something good.

Whittaker Chambers was called to be a witness, both for something and against something. Early in his life, he was called to be a witness against the modern world and for communism.Here is a man who was desperate to fix the problems of the modern age. For a while in Chambers’ life, Marxism/Leninism/Communism was his answer and he devo...more

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May 22, 2013 John Caneday rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

Witness is as much a personal testimony to the inner workings of the communist underground in America as it is an account of a shift in America's perception of the Soviet threat in America.

Chambers had a crisis of conscience early in life, realizing the West was in terminal decline and required radical steps to save itself. He, like all communists, he argues, joined the communists when he came to the belief that they offered the only hope to saving civilization.

Chambers immediately embraced the...more Witness is as much a personal testimony to the inner workings of the communist underground in America as it is an account of a shift in America's perception of the Soviet threat in America.

Chambers had a crisis of conscience early in life, realizing the West was in terminal decline and required radical steps to save itself. He, like all communists, he argues, joined the communists when he came to the belief that they offered the only hope to saving civilization.

Chambers immediately embraced the communist cause and sought ways to serve it. He ended up in the communist underground serving in New York and Washington. It isn't clear that Chambers and his subordinates had much direct success in espionage, but Harry Dexter White and Alger Hiss both played major roles after World War II in international finance and diplomacy. Chambers had already left the party by this time, however.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the book is Chambers' account of his rejection by the establishment. In one of the most important sections of the book, he argues that the establishment was enraged by his accusations of Hiss' communism because it was an implicit accusation of the establishment.

Communists had become comfortable in the government during the Roosevelt administration because the New Deal was soft communism. The communists were indistinguishable from anyone else in the administration because they all had the same agenda. It is no wonder that Chambers first attempt to warn the government was rejected.

It is this reticence that fuels the tensions in the book. The nation was not prepared to deal with the Soviet threat because the nation had already been alarmingly compromised by communism in practice.

It was Chambers' accusations along with well-placed allies in government that kept the pressure on the establishment to heed Chambers' warnings and wake up to the threat the Soviets had become.

Chambers confesses to his wife, early on in his account, that in leaving the communist party he was leaving the winning side. This admission is a telling one. The Soviet menace at the time was truly frightening to those opposed to the communist vision. It is this very fear and crisis of conscience that fueled the Cold War. Americans, seemingly, were truly frightened that the Soviets could actually win.

In hindsight, it is clear this fear was unwarranted, and actually quite alarming. The communist threat was never as strong as it was perceived to be. The true threat was not communism, but the lack of Christian conviction and the despair evidenced in communist fear-mongering. The threat was not external, but internal.

Having said this, it is clear that Soviet agents like White and Hiss that were involved with Chambers, and later the Rosenbergs, were true threats to America. They undermined the government when they could and emboldened its enemies.

Chambers autobiography is frequently griping, but does get long toward the end. It is an important book written and has aged well. (less)

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Aug 27, 2011 Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autobiography, history, nonfiction

This is a heavy book. (Having read the Kindle version, I don't mean physically, though the physical book would be that as well.) Whittaker Chambers is a serious man who lived by choice through serious events. He powerfully wrote about them in 1951 shortly after his part in them concluded. In this autobiography, Chambers recounted his unhappy childhood, his search for meaning in the "crisis of history" that led him to communism, his underground work for the Communist Party, the confrontation betw...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Jeremy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jeremy by: <a href='http://thebrowser.com/topics/american-conservatism/leaderboard'>The Browser</a>

Shelves: political-thought

This was really an amazing book. I don't know if I've ever read an autobiography before, but this one was terrific. When I heard about this book, it was only described as a person's transition from a communist to a capitalist, and it didn't disappoint. But it also described an important event in US history, the Red Scare.

Whittaker Chambers grew up poor and became a communist. He eventually rose to a position where he was knowledgeable about the communist spy network. Eventually, he renounced his...more

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Aug 29, 2010 Olivia rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Sherry Neaves, Roger Barnick

Recommended to Olivia by: Claire and Ezra

Shelves: non-fiction

This book is the autobiography of Whittaker Chamers written in 1952. Chambers was an American who joined the Communist party in the early 1930's and eventually left the open party to become a paid informant for the Soviets. He worked in Washington DC in conjunction with several Societ underground apparatuses. In the late 1930's he began having trouble justifying the atrocities being perpetrated by the Communists in the name of social progress and fled the party. He went to work against it in an...more This book is the autobiography of Whittaker Chamers written in 1952. Chambers was an American who joined the Communist party in the early 1930's and eventually left the open party to become a paid informant for the Soviets. He worked in Washington DC in conjunction with several Societ underground apparatuses. In the late 1930's he began having trouble justifying the atrocities being perpetrated by the Communists in the name of social progress and fled the party. He went to work against it in an effort to expose the beast within. He is famous for informing on several highly placed State Department officials who were working as spies for the Soviets, particularly Alger Hiss.

I found this book fascinating on several different levels. First, it was eye opening to learn so much about Communism. The term "communist" is commonly thrown about by the political talking heads on the right and while I've always had a rudimentary idea of what a "communist" is, I now have a much clearer picture. Next, this book has been instrumental in helping me clarify my thoughts on socialism.

Chambers illustrates that Communism is driven by Atheism. Man is heralded as the highest intellectual power on earth and through man's superior intellect and ability all problems, both social and economical, can be solved. Communists cling to their faith in man's superiority just as strongly as Christians cling to their faith that man is flawed and so need the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ. Communists justify the horrible murders and other atrocities committed in the name of progress by the belief that man is no more than an intellectually superior animal, and so animal acts are just a natural and necessary way of achieving an end.

Here are two of my all time favorite passages from this book:
"Under the bland influence of the idea of progress, man, supposing himself more and more to be the measure of all things, has achieved a singularly easy conscience and an almost hermetically smug optimism. The idea that man is sinful and needs redemtpion has been subtly changed into the idea that man is by nature good, and hence capable of indefinite perfectibility. This perfectibility is being achieved through technology, science, politics, social reform, and education. Man is essentially good, says 20th century liberalism, because he is rational, and his rationality is (if the speaker happens to be a liberal Protestant) divine, or (if he happens to be religiously unattached) at least benign. Thus the reason-defying paradoxes of Christian faith are happily by-passed.

"And yet, as 20th century civilization reaches a climax, its own paradoxes grow catastrophic. The incomparable technological achievement is more and more dedicated to the tak of destruction. Man's marvelous conquest of space has made total war a household experience, and, over vast reaches of the world, the commonest of childhood memories. The more abundance increases, the more resentment becomes the characteristic new look on 20th century faces. The more production multiplies, the more scarcitites become endemic. The faster science gains on disease (which, ultimately, seems always to elude it), the more the human race dies at the hands of living men. Men have never been so educated, but wisdom, even as an idea, has conspicuously vanished from the world.

"Against liberalism's social optimism (progress by reform) and the social optimism of the revolutionary left (progress by force), Dostoyevsky asserted the eternal necessity of the soul to be itself. But he discerned that the moment man indulged this freedom to the point where he was also free from God, it hed him into tragedy, evil, and often the exact opposite of that he intended."

Regarding socialism, I believe the evil lies in the idea tha man can establish the kingdom of God on earth, but kick God out of the kingdom. It is our human duty to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, but we must do it as an answer to God's command and through His methods (sacrifice and consecration). Socialism is like having the mafia head up the effort to feed the hungry and clothe the naked.....I guess we should just ignore all the corruption and unfortunate folks who end up being 'fed to the fish' in the process.

When I finished reading this book, I spent some time googling the various people mentioned in the book to see what other info is out there. Once piece of info I found interesting was that this book was instrumental in turning Ronald Reagan from an FDR lovin', New Deal Democrat into a conservative! (less)

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Feb 07, 2010 Robert rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Liked, not liked. Not an appropriate evaluation style for a book like this. I read this book because of an news item that Reagan had a bestowed the Medal of Freedom on the author, posthumously as Chambers had died in 1961 at the same time PBS presented Concealed Enemies, a mini-series about Chambers and the Alger Hiss case, an event that played crucial role in advancing the career of Richard Nixon. I was certainly aware of Nixon from childhood (age 7 in 1960) and had a vague awareness of the His...more Liked, not liked. Not an appropriate evaluation style for a book like this. I read this book because of an news item that Reagan had a bestowed the Medal of Freedom on the author, posthumously as Chambers had died in 1961 at the same time PBS presented Concealed Enemies, a mini-series about Chambers and the Alger Hiss case, an event that played crucial role in advancing the career of Richard Nixon. I was certainly aware of Nixon from childhood (age 7 in 1960) and had a vague awareness of the Hiss case which came and went before I was born but had not examined it or realized its importance to Nixon, nor had I heard of Chambers at all. Chambers presents us with something akin to the infamous C. S. Lewis trilemma. He is either lying, deluded or telling the truth. (In both cases it is a fallacy to accept the all or nothing premise, in real life very little comes in such neatly arranged packages, it is fully possible to have truth and forms of untruth together and seemingly consistent as well as plain misunderstanding, sincere belief with superficial consistency that is nonetheless untrue.) He reveals many unsavory things about himself in the account. He left a very good and well paid post at Time magazine to tell his story and testify against Alger Hiss. There can be no question that he was deeply motivated by this cause simply based on the depth of sacrifice he made for it. This is a curious historical artifact whose value in history must be measured against all the evidence available. It is a well written book, the author was an extremely literate man in more than one language and a professional writer and editor. He projects unquestionable sincerity both in word and deed. What, if anything, different that lies beneath I cannot assess but one must consider that he was capable of creating any sort of impression he wanted as a matter of professional skill. If Hiss was innocent and the evidence at his trials a skillful concoction then this book is a pernicious fiction of value only in assessing the character of Chambers and his relationship with politicians promoting themselves by means of cold war hysteria. If Hiss was guilty then it might be the precious testimony of redemption that Chambers' supporters consider it to be.(less)

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About Whittaker Chambers

Whittaker Chambers born Jay Vivian Chambers and also known as David Whittaker, was an American writer and editor. A Communist party member and Soviet spy, he later renounced communism and became an outspoken opponent. He is best known for his testimony about the perjury and espionage of Alger Hiss.

In 1952, Chambers's book Witness was published to widespread acclaim. The book was a combination of a...more

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Books by Whittaker Chambers

Odyssey of a Friend: Letters to William F. Buckley Jr. 1954-1961

Notes from the Underground: The Whittaker Chambers-Ralph de Toledano Letters, 1949-60

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Quotes from Witness

“Yet there is one experience which most sincere ex-Communists share, whether or not they go only part way to the end of the question it poses. The daughter of a former German diplomat in Moscow was trying to explain to me why her father, who, as an enlightened modern man, had been extremely pro-Communist, had become an implacable anti-Communist. It was hard for her because, as an enlightened modern girl, she shared the Communist vision without being a Communist. But she loved her father and the irrationality of his defection embarrassed her. 'He was immensely pro-Soviet,' she said,' and then -- you will laugh at me -- but you must not laugh at my father -- and then -- one night -- in Moscow -- he heard screams. That's all. Simply one night he heard screams.'

A child of Reason and the 20th century, she knew that there is a logic of the mind. She did not know that the soul has a logic that may be more compelling than the mind's. She did not know at all that she had swept away the logic of the mind, the logic of history, the logic of politics, the myth of the 20th century, with five annihilating words: one night he heard screams.” — 6 people liked it

“Crime, violence, infamy are not tragedy. Tragedy occurs when a human soul awakes and seeks, in suffering and pain, to free itself from crime, violence, infamy, even at the cost of life. The struggle is the tragedy - not defeat or death. That is why the spectacle of tragedy has always filled men, not with despair, but with a sense of hope and exaltation.” — 2 people liked it

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