The execution of Ethel Rosenberg in 1953 must rank “among the most horribly botched in human history”, said Jake Kerridge in The Daily Telegraph: sentenced to die with her husband Julius for spying for the Soviet Union, she took four-and-a-half minutes to die in the electric chair.
It was also, Anne Sebba argues with “exemplary clarity”, a miscarriage of justice fuelled by anti-communist hysteria and male chauvinism. The crucial evidence against her was supplied by her estranged brother David Greenglass – also implicated in the passing of atomic secrets to the Russians – in return for a reduced sentence; and even he testified that she had done little more than type up the information. Yet because she refused to play the part of a weak and helpless woman in court, she was branded a termagant who had masterminded the operation.
Sebba has taken a well-known story and skilfully breathed fresh life into it, said Andrew Lownie in The Oldie. This is a “powerful” biography of a woman caught in a system determined to make an example of her. The FBI knew its case against her was weak, but brought it to put pressure on her husband. Sebba persuasively argues that Ethel’s punishment was disproportionate, though her attempt to downplay Ethel’s guilt altogether “will strain credulity in some quarters”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
You can say that again, said Oliver Kamm in The Times. This book is “an intellectual disgrace”. Julius Rosenberg was of great value to Soviet intelligence: he passed on a series of important military secrets. And the evidence is clear that Ethel conspired with him. The trial was certainly tainted, and the punishment was “barbarous”, but the Rosenbergs were willing servants of an appalling regime. “Theirs was no equivalent of the Dreyfus case.”
Weidenfeld & Nicolson 304pp £20; The Week Bookshop £15.99
The Week Bookshop
To order this title or any other book in print, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk, or speak to a bookseller on 020-3176 3835. Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
-
The world’s most romantic hotelsThe Week Recommends Treetop hideaways, secluded villas and a woodland cabin – perfect settings for Valentine’s Day
-
Democrats push for ICE accountabilityFeature U.S. citizens shot and violently detained by immigration agents testify at Capitol Hill hearing
-
The price of sporting gloryFeature The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off this week. Will Italy regret playing host?
-
6 gorgeous homes in warm climesFeature Featuring a Spanish Revival in Tucson and Richard Neutra-designed modernist home in Los Angeles
-
Touring the vineyards of southern BoliviaThe Week Recommends Strongly reminiscent of Andalusia, these vineyards cut deep into the country’s southwest
-
Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency – an ‘engrossing’ exhibitionThe Week Recommends All 126 images from the American photographer’s ‘influential’ photobook have come to the UK for the first time
-
American Psycho: a ‘hypnotic’ adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis classicThe Week Recommends Rupert Goold’s musical has ‘demonic razzle dazzle’ in spades
-
Properties of the week: houses near spectacular coastal walksThe Week Recommends Featuring homes in Cornwall, Devon and Northumberland
-
Melania: an ‘ice-cold’ documentaryTalking Point The film has played to largely empty cinemas, but it does have one fan
-
Nouvelle Vague: ‘a film of great passion’The Week Recommends Richard Linklater’s homage to the French New Wave
-
Wonder Man: a ‘rare morsel of actual substance’ in the Marvel UniverseThe Week Recommends A Marvel series that hasn’t much to do with superheroes
