America's Traitors

The following is a list of the titles chosen for the fall, 2004--spring, 2005 American History Book Discussion group. For times and dates, call the Sachem Public Library Welcome Desk at 588-5024.

Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor, by Willard Sterne Randall. Morrow, 1990.
For the first half of the American Revolution, he fought brilliant and successful campaigns. He built an American fleet on Lake Champlain, repulsed the British at Valcour Island, won the battle of Saratoga and nearly succeeded in making Canada the 14th state. So, how did his name become synonymous with treason?

Aaron Burr: Conspiracy to Treason, by Buckner F. Melton, Jr. Wiley, 2002.
Best known as the man who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, Burr became involved in a plan to invade Mexico and set up an independent republic there or, alternately, to get the Western frontiers to cede from the Union and form a separate republic.

Jefferson Davis: American, by William J. Cooper. Knopf, 2000.
The son of a veteran of the American Revolution and as a soldier and senator, Jefferson Davis initially did not wish to leave the Union and considered himself a patriot. But his initial reluctance turned into absolute commitment to the Confederacy and afterwards never expressed any remorse for his part in the great conflict that tore the nation apart. Cooper strives to show Davis as a man of his time, one who should not necessarily be judged by the standards of our time.

The Brother: The Untold Story of Atomic Spy David Greenglass and How He Sent His Sister, Ethel Rosenberg to the Electric Chair, by Sam Roberts. RH, 2001.
A riveting account of one of the most bitterly debated episodes of the postwar era and the role David Greenglass played in the trial and subsequent execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for conspiring to steal atomic secrets.

Whittaker Chambers: A Biography, by Sam Tanenhaus. RH, 1997.<
Chambers made headlines in 1948 with his sensational accusation that former State Department official Alger Hiss was not only a Communist, but a spy, charges Hiss denied until his death in 1996. This biography follows Chambers' from his youth in a sleepy Long Island village to center stage in America's greatest political trial and finally to his role as the "godfather" of post-war conservatism.

Alger Hiss's Looking Glass War: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy, by E. Edward White.
The other side of the Hiss story--one that demonstrates that Hiss was far from being the innocent victim of McCarthyism as many Americans once thought, White weaves a fascinating portrait of a master manipulator whose life was devoted to perpetuating a lie.

Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence and Edward Teller, by Gregg Herken. Holt, 2002.
How did science, enlisted in the service of the state during the Second World War, become a slave to its patron during the Cold War--and scientists with it? This is the story of the conflict between Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller--the scientists most responsible for the advent of weapons of mass destruction and about the wrenching choices that had to be made when these allegiances came into conflict.

Live By the Sword: The Secret War Against Castro and the Death of JFK, by Gus Russo. Bancroft, 1998.
We all know that Lee Harvey Oswald pulled the trigger, but the "why" behind the assassination of JFK have been debated ever since. Russo challenges 30 years of government cover-ups in his assertion that the cause was John and Bobby Kennedy's secret war against Castro.

American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing, by Lou Michel & Dan Herbeck. Regan, 2001.
Detailed account of the largest terrorist act (until 9/11) ever perpetrated on American soil and the anti-government activist responsible for the carnage.

The Bureau and the Mole: The Unmasking of Robert Philip Hanssen, the Most Dangerous Double Agent in FBI History, by David A. Vise. Atlantic Monthly, 2002.
How is it possible that one of the FBI's most trusted agents--a 25-year veteran and devoted, Church-going family man--was leading a double life as a spy for Russia? Read how Hanssen constructed a web of duplicity while hiding behind the guise of patriotism.

Titles chosen by Brad Silverman
Annotated by Lynne Kennedy

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