"One of the few indispensable autobiographies ever written by an American - and one of the best written too. It deserves to be recognized as a first class achievement" - New Centurion

"Confession, history, potboiler-by a man who writes like the literary giant we would know him as, had not Communism got him first" -Christopher Caldwell, National Review, 100 Best Non-Fiction Books of the Century

"This many-dimensioned apologia, which is also a spy drama, a Quaker testament, and a spiritual autobiography, telescopes the major political and religious conflicts of the century" - Booklist

First published in 1952, Witness came on the heals of America's trial of the century, in which Whittaker Chambers accused Alger Hiss, a full-standing member of the political establishment, of spying for the Soviet Union.

In this penetrating philosophical memoir, Chambers recounts the famous case as well as his own experiences as a Communist agent in the United States, his later renunciation of communism, and his conversion to Christianity.

Chambers' worldview - "man without mysticism is a monster" - helped to make political conservatism a national force.

Witness packs the emotional wallop and the literary power of a classic Russian novel and has gained Chambers recognition by critics on both sides of the spectrum as a truly gifted writer.