Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy

by Anne Sebba

This is a biography of Ethel Rosenberg, the first woman executed in the United States not for the crime of murder, and mother of two small children, aged 10 and 6. Always paired with her husband as ‘the Rosenbergs’—executed in New York State for spying for the Soviet Union—in this book Anne Sebba brings Ethel’s own story to life, from her dreams for becoming a singer when she was young to the last hugs before she was put to death. As Sebba flags at the beginning, “Ethel Rosenberg was not, I believe, a spy.” She was a committed communist, loyal to her husband and not well-turned out (because the couple were poor) or emotional on the witness stand. That, apparently, was enough for her to end up on the electric chair, where even her electrocution was botched. Like so many Cold War stories, it’s a brutal one.

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“The execution of an American Jewish couple, Julian (‘Julie’) and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953 for espionage was one of those moments that rocked the world. In this book, historian Anne Sebba stops looking at them as a couple and tells Ethel’s story. She was born into poverty but was blessed with brains and a great voice and wanted to become a singer. She cared deeply about social justice and thought communism might be a solution. Through her activism, she met her husband. They had kids. She worried about being a bad mother and read piles of parenting books. Her husband was a spy for the Soviet Union, she probably wasn’t. She was executed by electric chair, leaving behind two boys, aged 10 and 6. As the subtitle says, it was a Cold War tragedy indeed.” Read more...

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