At age thirteen, a young girl learns that her parents had been Communists during the 1930s and '40s while working for the U.S. Government. Her father is called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and must decide how he will testify. His decision breaks his spirit and changes his family's life forever.

>> Read more about Legacy of a False Promise by Margaret Fuchs Singer.

The spate of recent books and articles dealing with Soviet Espionage and the early Cold War is evidence of the public's continued interest in this period of history even after more than fifty years have passed. The opening of formerly secret KGB archives and release of intercepted Venona cables have fueled this interest. Historians hold conflicting views regarding the true meaning of the revelations and they continue to argue over the role of the Communist Party in Soviet espionage. The controversy has kept these topics current.

>> WORKS OF HISTORY

Citing information from the recently released files and cables, historians John Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Allen Weinstein are among the many mainstream historians who have become convinced of the role played by Communists and "fellow travelers" in the espionage effort of the Soviet Union before and during World War II. Left-wing critics, Victor Navasky and John Lowenthal are among those who challenge the evidence of the "Cold War historians" and insist there never was a real "red menace" in America.

Books and articles representing the two sides in this controversy serve as background for the Legacy of a False Promise, whose author sifts through the competing evidence to find answers to her questions concerning her own parents' involvement and the involvement of their friends with the American Communist Party and its attempts to help the Soviets.

Weinstein, Allen and Alexander Vassiliev

The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America - The Stalin Era.  

New York: Random House, 2000.

In The Haunted Wood, Weinstein and Vassiliev cite previously secret KGB records, corroborated by Venona cables, as proof that the testimony of Elizabeth Bentley was essentially correct, that certain highly placed Americans, including Alger Hiss and Julius Rosenberg, were sharing U.S government classified information with the Soviets.

Haynes, John Earl and Harvey Klehr.

In Denial: Historians, Communism and Espionage.

San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2003.

In previous books, John Haynes and Harvey Klehr highlighted evidence, from the recently released files and cables, that American Communists and other "fellow travelers" were involved in spying for the Soviet Union. In this book, In Denial, the authors criticize "revisionist" historians who, since the late 1960s, have depicted the U.S. as the aggressor in the Cold War while glorifying the role of the Communist Party as a force for democracy. The authors of In Denial accuse their opponents of overlooking the crimes of the Stalin regime and minimizing the importance of the new evidence of spying.

Haynes, John Earl, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev.

Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America.

New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009.

For their latest book, Spies, John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr have teamed up with former KGB officer, Alexander Vassiliev. For a brief period in the early 1990s, Vassiliev had been granted access to KGB documents dealing with Soviet espionage in the United States. At that time, he transcribed many of these documents in notebooks, which he has shared with Haynes and Klehr for this book. These documents bring to light important new information.