America's Dreyfus

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.

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 Nixon needed to establish anti-communist credentials while standing as a right-wing candidate. 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; Hiss never has been.

Brady draws strong parallels with today's 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 one of Brady’s thrillers, although every word is true.