About this Event
Jeff Kisseloff on Alger Hiss, in conversation with Eric AltermanWednesday, April 23, 6:30 pm, the Segal Theatre, First FloorThe Graduate Center, CUNY365 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10016When Alger Hiss was accused by Whittaker Chambers in 1948 of being a secret Communist spy in the 1930s, the subsequent perjury trials were some of the most sensational and politically significant trials of the century. Although Hiss was convicted, he maintained his innocence until his death, and historians have taken sides ever since. In this groundbreaking and revelatory book, Jeff Kisseloff brings new perspective, evidence, and accusations to this historical controversy.
Rewriting Hisstory is a firsthand account of how over fifty years, beginning when he worked for Hiss as a college student in the mid-1970s. With the skills of a veteran reporter and the analytical mind of a scholar, he brings to light a wealth of original material, including around 115,000 pages of previously redacted FBI files—which he sued the FBI to obtain—and other documents from government and library collections around the country. Kisseloff also acquired a key piece of evidence: Woodstock 230099, the machine that the government claimed was used to type the copies of State Department documents placed in evidence against Hiss.
Jeff Kisseloff developed a fascination for the Hiss case as a child when he heard a recording of Hiss and Chambers testifying before HUAC. In college, Jeff contacted Hiss and went to work for him, reading his voluminous FBI file. He later became a newspaper reporter and editor and the author of five books, including three oral histories, of Manhattan, television and the 60s. He is the managing editor of algerhiss.com and has been working full time on this book since 1997. Jeff is a native New Yorker. He lives in Tucson, with his wife Sue, two dogs, and his still-growing collection of FBI files.
Eric Alterman is a CUNY Distinguished Professor of English at Brooklyn College. A contributing writer to The Nationand The American Prospect, he has been a columnist for Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, The Forward, Moment and the Sunday Express (London). Alterman is also the author of 12 books, including the recently published We Are Not One: A History of America’s Fight Over Israel, as well as the national bestseller What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News. He has won the George Orwell Prize, the Stephen Crane Literary Award and the Mirror Award for media criticism (twice). He lives in Manhattan and tweets at @eric_alterman.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Segal Theatre (Room 1218), Graduate Center, CUNY, New York, United States
USD 0.00
