The Rosenberg File: Second Edition [Paperback]

Professor Ronald Radosh (Author), Joyce Milton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 27, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0300072058 | ISBN-13: 978-0300072051

This highly acclaimed book -- hailed as the definitive account of the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg case -- now includes a new introduction and epilogue that discuss the most recent evidence. It provides information from the Khruschev and Molotov memoirs, the Venona papers, and material contained in a Discovery Channel documentary that will be shown in March.

Product Details

• Paperback: 606 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (February 27, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300072058
• ISBN-13: 978-0300072051
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #147,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read both this book and The Brother by Sam Roberts, March 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Rosenberg File: Second Edition (Paperback)

The Radosh book concerning the Rosenberg case is a much fuller and more comprehensive treatment of the case than is the more recent book, The Brother, by Sam Roberts. The Brother is based on the current recollections of Ethel Rosenberg's brother David Greenglass who fingered both Ethel and Julius in testimony. David also served a number of years for espionage, himself, as part of same case.

...The Rosenberg File ... makes it very, very clear that Julius was certainly part of a communist espionage ring in the NY City area for years during WWII. The Venona Files also make the same case. It is Ethel who was probably not actually guilty of active espionage activities. It should be said, also, that both Rosenbergs could have saved themselves by telling the truth. Ethel might well not even have been charged, and Julius would almost certainly not have gotten the chair. But, they chose to lie right up to the end and be martyrs for the communist cause. The Radosh book, strongly documents the case against Julius and is also forthright about the weakness of the case against Ethel.

Read both The Rosenberg File for completeness and The Brother by Sam Roberts for a facinating sidelight from the point of view of one of the central characters in the story.

47 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The book that settles the Rosenberg case: they were guilty., November 11, 1998

By 

Stephen M. St Onge "Stephen M. St. Onge" (Mpls, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rosenberg File: Second Edition (Paperback)

For over thirty years, there was controversy surrounding the Rosenbergs' trial. We heard the evidence was faked, that the witnesses were unreliable, that there was a more than reasonable doubt as to the Rosenbergs' guilt. This is the book that settled all that for all rational readers. Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain thousands of pages of documents from the FBI files, as well as interviews with surviving major participants, and showed beyond any reasonable doubt that the Rosenbergs and Morton Sobell were guilty as charged, and fairly tried to boot. Since then, the collapse of the USSR and the release of the VENONA decrypts have provided additional proof they were right on all major points (this evidence is reviewed in the new introduction). A great work of scholarship, and a heck of a good true crime thriller.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real History, July 3, 2005

By 

Greg (Bloomington, Minnesota United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rosenberg File: Second Edition (Paperback)

When Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton began the research for this book, many people across the political spectrum became uncomfortable. That is because this is an actual work of history, rather than an ideological screed masquerading as history. Radosh and Milton have been faithful to the historian's profession: they have interviewed, they have researched, and they have made an honest, ethical attempt to answer the crucial historical question: "What really happened?"

Ideologues on the left and the right have feared and criticized this book because it does a thorough job of lifting the fog of ideology and shedding light on events. What really happened to the Rosenbergs? The revelations are shocking, debunking years of mythology that, even now, continues to be taught in public schools by overindoctrinated teachers. Julius was, indeed, a spy for the USSR, and his wife was fully supportive of his activities, a minor accomplice. They did indeed pass on crude atomic information to the USSR. The USSR would have built an atomic bomb by 1950 at the latest even without the Rosenberg's information. A New York judge used the Rosenbergs to further his career and imposed an unrealistically harsh sentence. President Eisenhower approved of the Rosenberg execution as a warning to anyone else who would spy on the USA. Most of the Rosenberg's most vocal defenders were well aware of their guilt, even as they proclaimed their innocence. Finally, the Rosenbergs could have saved themselves, but chose to put their politics above their children.

These revelations will continually be tested and challenged. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that they will be overturned any time soon. Radosh and Milton have amassed an awesome array of primary and secondary source evidence supporting their conclusions, including interviews of surviving witnesses, court documents, and a review of the scientific evidence -- with only passing reference to the formidable Venona decrypts, which fully corroborate their conclusions.

This book is highly recommended for an understanding of the Cold War era.