Like the Hiss case itself, Witness, by Whittaker Chambers (TIME, May 26), had a troubling effect on Americans. Few books in a dozen years have provoked such a burst of prompt, wide and heart-searching reviews. Verdicts have come not only from the professional book reviewers but from philosophers, historians and freelance intellectuals. They compared Whittaker Chambers (favorably or unfavorably) to St. Augustine, Rousseau, Casanova, Lincoln Steffens, Ulysses S. Grant, Lanny Budd. Adjectives chased one another across the pages: "terrible," "penetrating," "poignant," "unbelievable," "great," "boring," "thrilling," "overwritten," "embarrassing," "fascinating." Whatever their outlook,...
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