The Brother: The Untold Story of the Rosenberg Case
by Sam Roberts
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HTML:In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were tried for and convicted of conspiring to steal atomic secrets. In 1953, their execution tore American apart. Fifty years later, the acrimonious debate over the Rosenbergs' guilt, and the raw emotions unleashed by a case that fueled McCarthyism and the cold war, still reverberate.One man doomed the Rosenbergs: David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg's brother, the young army sergeant who spied for the Soviets at Los Alamos during World War II and show more whose testimony later sealed his sister and brother-in-law's fate. After serving ten years in prison, he was released in 1960 and vanished.
But Sam Roberts, a New York Times editor, found David Greenglass and, after fourteen years, finally persuaded him to talk. Drawn from the first unrestricted-access interviews ever granted by Greenglass and supplemented by revelations from dozens of other key players in the case--including the Russian agent who controlled Julius Rosenberg; by newly declassified American and Soviet government documents; and by personal letters never before publishes, among them on from Albert Einstein; The Brother is the mesmerizing inside story of misplaced idealism, love and betrayal behind the atomic-espionage case that J. Edgar Hoover condemned as the Crime of the Century.
In more than fifty hours of tape-recorded conversations with the author, Greenglass intimately detailed his recruitment into espionage on Manhattan's Lower East Side, how he spied for the Russians at American's most secret military installation, and how the plot unraveled and led to the arrests of David, Julius, and Ethel.
But even beyond that, this book reveals how Greenglass perjured himself during his riveting courtroom testimony--testimony that virtually strapped his sister and brother-in-law into Sing Sing's electric chair.
Delivering a narrative punch on every page, The Brother is the story of a family. It is a story of atomic espionage. It is the story of the trial that turned a nation upside down and that even now divides the American left. Convincingly and with authority, The Brother tells a tale driven by secrets, suspense, and intense human intrigue. HTML:"Sam Roberts--aided by new documentation from the Soviets and unique access to David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg's brother--has written the definitive account of one of the most bitterly debated episodes of the postwar era. The Brother is a remarkable achievement: lucid, amazingly fair-minded, unsparing in its description of all the players in the case. Roberts has at once given us a marvelous read--a real-life spy thriller--and rendered a rare public service.". Biography & Autobiography. Nonfiction. Politics. History. show less
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Member Reviews
Hoping to find a book about the famous Julius and Ethel Rosenberg case, since my limited knowledge on the subject was that of documentaries that did quick snippets of the case. I thought I was in luck when I came across the Sam Roberts book The Brother: The Untold Story of the Rosenberg Case. With a ringing endorsement by The Washington Post on the cover stating," A fresh and fast-paced study of one of the most important crimes of the twentieth century" how could I go wrong? Well, that comment had to make me laugh since it took about 60 pages before the book even flows at a halfway decent pace. Roberts using the beginning of the book almost like a summation to give us the readers the details of The Brother aka David Greenglass' show more childhood as a way to make you understand why he decided to spy for the Russians. But no words written by anyone can redeem David as shown through his actions played out in the book; he is an egotistical & self-indulgent man only looking out for himself and his wife, Ruth. The book left me questioning the mindset of the government as they use David to convict his sister, Ethel and Julius to death for espionage. When David only received ten years in prison for being the one who stole the plans for the nuclear bomb and his wife only a slap on the wrist for her part. I will give Roberts credit for showing the real injustice of the case against the Rosenbergs by the government, even though I am not saying they are innocent either. Still after a long 517 pages, you are left with more questions than answers. show less
A very long but very good book! This was my second book about the Rosenbergs, I originally read their sons' joint memoir, and I now feel I have a greater understanding of these people and their place in US history. David Greenglass seems very conceited and I don't like him very much.
My father is in this story - search for Bederson!
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Author Information
10 Works 585 Members
Sam Roberts is a New York Times reporter and host of NY-1's cable talk show New York Close-Up. He lives in Manhattan with his family. (Bowker Author Biography)
Awards and Honors
Awards
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2001
- People/Characters
- David Greenglass; Ethel Rosenberg
- Important places
- Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
- Important events
- Manhattan Project; World War II (1939 | 1945)
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Statistics
- Members
- 159
- Popularity
- 205,863
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.07)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 1
