A new narrative of the famed case that finally solves its
remaining mysteries, by the author of the bestselling Invitation to
an Inquest
Walter and Miriam Schneir’s 1965 bestseller Invitation to an
Inquest was among the first critical accounts of the controversial
case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, famously executed in 1953 for
passing atom bomb secrets to Soviet Russia. In Invitation the
Schneirs presented exhaustive and damning evidence that key
witnesses in the trial had changed their stories after coaching
from prosecutors, and that the FBI had forged evidence. The
conclusion was unavoidable: The Rosenbergs were innocent.
But were they?
Thirty years after the publication of Inquest, Walter Schneir was
back on the case after bits and pieces of new evidence started
coming to light, much of it connecting Julius Rosenberg to Soviet
espionage. Over more than a decade, Schneir continued his search
for the truth, meeting with former intelligence officials in Moscow
and Prague, and cross checking details recorded in thousands of
government documents.
The result is an entirely new narrative of the Rosenberg case.
The reality, Schneir demonstrates, is that Rosenbergs ended up
hopelessly trapped: prosecuted for atomic espionage they didn’t
commit—but unable to admit earlier espionage activities during
World War II.
As it happened, Julius Rosenberg was only marginally involved in
the atomic spy ring he was depicted as leading—while Ethel,
critically, was not at all involved. The two lied when the
contended they knew nothing about espionage. Ethel knew about it
and Julius had practiced it, but the government’s contention that
they had stolen the “secret” of the atom bomb was critically and
fatally flawed.
目錄:
Timeline
Preface: A Long Journey by Miriam Schneir
One: A Mysterious Date: December 27, 1945
Two: Opening the KGB Archives
Three: A Pink Slip from Moscow
Four." A Smoking Gun?
Afterword by "Miriam Schneir
Notes
Index