An unconventional look at the classics of world literature--from Homer to Bellow--offers a thematic tour of our literary heritage, as well as a list of suggested readings

Literature Unbound

Literature & Fiction

Tanenhaus, Sam

History & Criticism

Ballantine Books

Whittaker Chambers is the first biography of this complex and enigmatic figure. Drawing on dozens of interviews and on materials from forty archives in the United States and abroad--including still-classified KGB dossiers--Tanenhaus traces the remarkable journey that led Chambers from a sleepy Long Island village to center stage in America's greatest political trial and then, in his last years, to a unique role as the godfather of post-war conservatism. This biography is rich in startling new information about Chambers's days as New York's "hottest literary Bolshevik"; his years as a Communist agent and then defector, hunted by the KGB; his conversion to Quakerism; his secret sexual turmoil; his turbulent decade at Time magazine, where he rose from the obscurity of the book-review page to transform the magazine into an oracle of apocalyptic anti-Communism. But all this was a prelude to the memorable events that began in August 1948, when Chambers testified against Alger Hiss in the spy case that changed America. Whittaker Chambers goes far beyond all previous accounts of the Hiss case, re-creating its improbably twists and turns, and disentangling the motives that propelled a vivid cast of characters in unpredictable directions. A rare conjunction of exacting scholarship and narrative art, Whittaker Chambers is a vivid tapestry of 20th century history.

Whittaker Chambers: A Biography

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Modern Library

Primarily known as the accuser of Alger Hiss, Whittaker Chambers was a commanding, complex figure who was center stage during many of the public events of his time, yet remained intensely private. This book covers Chambers' personal life, as well as his emergence as a dominant voice in the postwar ant-Communist movement. 16 pp. of photos. 640 pp. Print ads. Author tour. 35,000 print.

Professionals & Academics

Random House]

Sam Tanenhaus’s essay “Conservatism Is Dead” prompted intense discussion and debate when it was published in The New Republic in the first days of Barack Obama’s presidency. Now Tanenhaus, a leading authority on modern politics, has expanded his argument into a sweeping history of the American conservative movement. For seventy-five years, he argues, the Right has been split between two factions: consensus-driven “realists” who believe in the virtue of government and its power to adjust to changing conditions, and movement “revanchists” who distrust government and society–and often find themselves at war with America itself. Eventually, Tanenhaus writes, the revanchists prevailed, and the result is the decadent “movement conservatism” of today, a defunct ideology that is “profoundly and defiantly unconservative–in its arguments and ideas, its tactics and strategies, above all in its vision.” But there is hope for conservatism. It resides in the examples of pragmatic leaders like Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan and thinkers like Whittaker Chambers and William F. Buckley, Jr. Each came to understand that the true role of conservatism is not to advance a narrow ideological agenda but to engage in a serious dialogue with liberalism and join with it in upholding “the politics of stability.” Conservatives today need to rediscover the roots of this honorable tradition. It is their only route back to the center of American politics. At once succinct and detailed, penetrating and nuanced, The Death of Conservatism is a must-read for Americans of any political persuasion.

The Death of Conservatism: A Movement and Its Consequences

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Random House Trade Paperbacks

A biography of the famous trumpeter who was one of the first great improvisers in jazz history.

Louis Armstrong

Children's Books

Biographies

Holloway House Pub Co

The Death of Conservatism

Sam Tanenhaus's essay "Conservatism Is Dead" prompted intense discussion and debate when it was published in the New Republic in the first days of Barack Obama's presidency. Now Tanenhaus, a leading authority on modern politics, has expanded his argument into a sweeping history of the American conservative movement. For seventy-five years, he argues, the Right has been split between two factions: consensus-driven "realists," who believe in the virtue of government and its power to adjust to changing conditions, and movement "revanchists," who distrust government and society—and often find themselves at war with America itself. Eventually, Tanenhaus writes, the revanchists prevailed, and the result is the decadent "movement conservatism" of today, a defunct ideology that is "profoundly and defiantly unconservative—in its arguments and ideas, its tactics and strategies, above all in its vision." But there is hope for conservatism. It resides in the examples of pragmatic leaders like Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan and thinkers like Whittaker Chambers and William F. Buckley, Jr. Each came to understand that the true role of conservatism is not to advance a narrow ideological agenda but to engage in a serious dialogue with liberalism and join with it in upholding "the politics of stability." Conservatives today need to rediscover the roots of this honorable tradition. It is their only route back to the center of American politics. At once succinct and detailed, penetrating and nuanced, The Death of Conservatism is a must-listen for Americans of any political persuasion.

Tantor Audio

A biography of the famous trumpeter who was one of the first great improvisers in jazz history

Louis Armstrong: Musician (Black Americans of Achievement)

Chelsea House Pub

Sam Tanenhaus charts the spellbinding story of Whittaker Chambers (1901-1961), a complex figure whose intriguing transformation from Communist agent to anti-Communist witness climaxed in 1948, when he testified against Alger Hiss, a senior U.S. State Department official, in the controversial trial that shook and changed America. With a cast that includes Richard Nixon as a young lawyer, Senator Joseph McCarthy and many others, An Un-American Life: The Case of Whittaker Chambers is at once a vivid tapestry of twentieth century history, a spectacular human drama and a political thriller of the highest order.With a new introduction by the author, linking the historical implications of the Chambers-Hiss case with contemporary America.

An Un-American Life: The Case of Whittaker Chambers

Old Street Publishing

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Tanenhaus, Sam. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Tanenhaus, Sam

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Tanenhaus, Sam. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Literature Unbound

Whittaker Chambers: A Biography

Whittaker Chambers: A Biography

The Death of Conservatism: A Movement and Its Consequences

Louis Armstrong

The Death of Conservatism

The Death of Conservatism

Louis Armstrong: Musician (Black Americans of Achievement)

An Un-American Life: The Case of Whittaker Chambers