Title: Solid Biography
Product review: Having just finished Chambers's "Witness," I was pleased (mostly) that Tanenhaus tells much of the same story breezily, though still in more than 500 pages. He is at his best during the hearings and trials, tautly rattling off questions and responses, cutting through the fog of Chambers's too-close account, making the more arcane controversies intelligible.In Chambers's early life, Tanenhaus sticks to the evidence and refrains from speculating about Chambers's motives for joining the Communist Party, for example. I was somewhat disappointed that he didn't provide more in the way of interpretation, but by the time of Witness's publication, Tanenhaus begins to satisfy this craving for critique.Most important, Tanenhaus succeeds in making his subject sympathetic in all his flawed humanity. His story has become central (in an odd way) to America's story of the first half of the 20th century--and beyond. But he continues to fascinate because he was so unlikelyy, an American original.
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