Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy by Anne Sebba
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Web ID: 12620644You can’t fight city hall
“Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy” by Anne Sebba is an in-depth study of the Rosenberg incident with the main focus being on Ethel herself. As I was reading this book I kept coming back to the phase “you can’t fight city hall” and that is so correct. There are times where our justice system let’s us down, nothing is perfect, but we expect it to be. The Republicans had been out of power for 10 years and they needed something to hang their hat on to stir the American voting public. Communism was the answer and the Red scare took hold for the next 10+ years. The American public has always been easy to manipulate and people on both sides of the aisle have taken advantage of that fact. Using just one word in a certain way or in a certain context can creat national hysteria. Communism, abortion, taxes, immigrants, white supremacy, BLM and more have and will continue to be used to get people up in arms with the real goal to get certain people elected and to keep them in office. Most of the times the real goal has nothing to do with the hot ticket item, it is just a way to stir people up so they will vote the way the politicians, who have the power, want them to vote. So it was set against this type of crusade that lead Ethel to the electric chair. Did the top of the food chain want her to be killed? For the most part I do not think so. But the politicians had put themselves in a position where they let themselves no other option. The rhetoric was so loud and had been going on for so long that they had backed themselves into a corner. Was she guilty? And if she was guilty what was she guilty of? Many other people during the war, when Russia was our Ally and had lost millions of people fighting against the Nazi invasion, had help them out by providing them with more important information. The cost those people paid was many years, or in some cases no years, in jail. But the government wanted names, they also wanted to make an example of someone so they didn’t appear to be “soft” on Communism. There were also egos involved as well as careers to be advanced. All of this created the perfect storm that sent a women to her death. It seems clear that Ethel was involved in some aspect of what her husband was doing but to what extent and did it rise to the level of Capital punishment? This book really needs to be read by everyone who is currently being drawn into buzz words, hot ticket items, the flavor of the month that politicians and news channels throw in our direction so we will jump, roll over and fetch. It is not that some of these causes are not worth our time or energy, it is just that we need to understand that we are being used for someone else’s agenda. It is like magic, hey look at the pretty girl over there do not look at what my hand is doing below the table. I found this book both interesting and extremely well written. In addition to the people I mentioned above I think everyone should read this book. It shows how our government, politicians and news channels can push issues so far that we end up with only one option and it is not the one anyone really wants. One woman gave her life in this case, what might happen next when the hysteria level gets high enough. This is a cautionary tale.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Interesting
This is the first book I’ve read by the author. I don’t remember hearing about the Rosenberg’s before. I’m sure somewhere in my school years they were mentioned but not enough for me to be curious about. This book was well written and filled with historical facts. I felt bad for Ethel in the way she was raised. She wanted a different life for her children and to be a good mother. This is a tragic story for many reasons especially that her brother lied during the trial.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Helps answer questions
Well done review. The red witch hunt of the post WWII time is a curious and unfortunate episode in our history. This book explains the mood of the time. It reveals the Rosenbergs as real people. It is unlikely they were spies and very apparent they did not provide Russia with damaging information. The public confusion over Russian dictatorship and theoretical communism continues today and contributs to our divisions.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
An American Tragedy
This is a nonfiction book and by the way it's presented we can tell Ethel Rosenberg's life has been meticulously researched by author Anne Sebba. In June 1953, married couple Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who had two young sons were led separately from their cells on death row and electrocuted just moments apart. As they were being led to the chair they did not cry out or fight it they went calmly. We see Ethel's life as it unfolds for her as a child and teen and feel the coldness of her mother's betrayal and rejection. She didn't want her. One thing was very clear, how much Ethel adored her children. It was interesting reading the details of her trial for espionage-related crimes, of which I didn't see any hard evidence presented. Because of deep love for her husband Julius, she refused to say anything negative against him in court essentially courageously facing the death penalty which left her children orphans after her execution. Eyeopening tragedy! Pub Date 08 Jun 2021 I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you. All opinions expressed are my own.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Compelling story, but could be executed better
3.5 stars I knew nothing about this, partly because I didn't really pay attention to history or politics until I was an adult, so this case was completely new to me. I had heard of McCarthyism and knew it had to do with the cold war and communism scare, but again, I had not heard of it his case or what McCarthyism had to do with it. On the plus side, this book was deeply researched and the author spent years seeking out primary sources and interviewing people who were connected with the case in one way or another. Additionally, I found myself seeing red many times as I railed at the injustice that was clearly done in this case. Regardless of whether the Rosenbergs were guilty of treason (and I think the author makes a good case that at least Ethel was not), it is clear from this book that neither should ever have been executed and that their execution was the result of many things, including politics. As I read case after case of how many of the characters in the farce of a trial behaved at the very least, unethically, and in many cases, probably illegally, I was struck by how some of this behavior continues to this day, especially but not limited to the Trump era. It is appalling to me that even today, some 60+ years after they were executed, people still refused to acknowledge that at the very least they were illegally executed. So this book was definitely a learning experience for me. Why it did not get a higher rating is because I felt the execution of the story was not well done. That is not to say I wasn't moved to tears at some points. The writing just felt uneven to me, and passages, where I was completely torn up, were followed by pretty boring passages that I had reread to figure out what I had just read. I also disagreed with the author's statement at the end that this story was mainly about three women (Ethel, Tessie and Ruth) and their love of one man (David). In a society that was completely dominated by white men and where women were often expected to be housewives who took care of the children and home, women like Ethel who might think outside the box were easy to be villainized, even by other women. Except once her husband got his job in NY, she gave up her career for him and her sons, who I think she loved above all else, even her husband. The author's description of Ethel's love for Dr. Miller also seemed a bit odd and I wasn't about her point of that relationship. Overall, I'm glad I read this book, especially because it made me google the Rosenbergs and I ended up heading down one rabbit hole or another as I read more about their case. I just feel like the execution of this book was somewhat lacking. Still, if this case holds any interest for you, this is a book worth reading, if only to gain more perspectives about the case. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Dense with facts
An ugly tale of what one woman chose at a time when women had few choices in their lives. While there is much to be learned from this book, the writing fell flat for me. It is dense with information with little life to the telling of the tale.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Wow!
Wow! I learned about the Rosenberg's in school, but this book opened your eyes to how if the government wants someone or something they will get it, no matter the cost. This is a historical biography of Ethel Rosenberg. Ethel grew up poor with a mother who downed her whenever possible. But, Ethel rose above that. She graduated from school at 15. Joined a semi-professional choir, after being turned down once, because she couldn't read music. So she taught herself how to and reapplied and got in the choir. She married Julius' and quit a job in Washington so he could work for the government in New York City. Even though he worked for the government, they really never made it to middle class. They had two boys, who were Ethel's whole world. They both believed and supported communism. Julius went a lot father into communism than Ethel did. Because of jealousy from her brother and sister-in-law, Julius and Ethel were turned into the government as spies. Of course, the brother and sister-in-law were making a plea for their lives from the government when they turned the Rosenberg's in. The government was so blind and wanted to make a statement that what they set in motion soon backfired. Before the government knew it, it was out of hand and they couldn't go back, because the American people would know that the government had screwed up. They sacrificed two people because they wanted a big spy so bad. I recommend this book if you like historical biography, then I think you will enjoy this book. Even if you like crime, you ought to read this book, because it was a crime that happened to Ethel Rosenberg. I received the Kindle version of this book from Netgalley for my honest opinion and thoughts.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Insightful
Well written account of the unfortunate execution of Ethel Rosenberg and her husband, Julius, for suspicion of espionage. I'm a historical fiction lover and with this book decided to cross over to non-fiction and I thoroughly enjoyed this amazing true story of secrets, jealousy amongst siblings, and the heart-wrenching destruction of families. Due to the reading of this book I'm interested in reading more on the subject of espionage and especially of Ethel's story.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com