In all likelihood, any effort by Stone to write honestly about the Hiss case
would have been seized on and misused by what he saw as his lifelong foe, the
forces of reaction. Stone was an authentic, muckraking radical in the best
American tradition. Yet he also personified, perhaps uniquely, the tragic
encounter between indigenous radicalism and Soviet Communism during the
twentieth century, including the subordination of the former to the latter for
decades, resulting in the enervation and long decline of the progressive impulse
in American political life.

This is beautifully expressed.

As a contemporary reader of Stone in PM even before the Korean War and reading
Arthur Koestler made me change my mind about the USSR and afterwards, it was
clear to this reader that he was not trustworthy as a journalist vis-a-vis the
USSR. I would have to research it but I think I remember that he defended the
claim made in the United Nations by the USSR that US was dropping germs on North
Korea. He was the Chomsky of his day. I read with great interest his book on the
judicial murder of Socrates. After closing down his excellent newsletter, he
learnt Platonic greek to do this book (not too hard, about 3 to 6 months if
energetically pursued) and his argument (which I didn't buy) is on a
professional level. What a guy!

Mike Eisenstadt
Austin