Ethel Rosenberg

This 2021 book, the latest in the Rosenberg oeuvre, not only recounts the history of what happened to the Rosenbergs but chronicles past historical accounts. One of the most important legacies of this literature is to remind us how all events are historically grounded. The Schneirs wrote that the Rosenberg trial “was a product of its times, displaying in microcosm many of the prevalent sociopolitical assumptions and preoccupations of the day.” The same could be said of the books by the Schneirs, the Meeropols, and Doctorow, which viewed the Rosenbergs through the sympathetic prism of American progressivism of the 1960s… show more.

In 1953 an American couple, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, became the first civilians to be executed for conspiracy to commit treason during peacetime. It was alleged during their trial that they passed secrets to the Russians at the height of the Cold War. Biographer and journalist Anne Sebba has focused on Ethel and whether she was guilty of spying for the Russians. Sebba’s biography has proved to be an important breakthrough in understanding this case because decades of controversy surrounded this couple. It was largely believed in the public that they were both guilty. However, as Sebba shows, in 1995… show more.