All I see here is a toddler who is fascinated with dirty diapers and puts his hands in them and smears shit on the walls. Just as you slap the toddler's hands and put him on a time-out while you clean up, the same needs to be done with Tanenhaus. If his claim to fame is a biography of Whittaker Chambers, he's spent too much time in the outhouse and has gotten delirious from the fumes. Not every thick book with lots of footnotes and obscure details is scholarly -- some of it is just stupid bullshit.