Author Interview
ANNE SEBBA Alexander Larman meets the journalist, biographer and historian to discuss Russian spies, Wallis Simpson and Winston Churchill’s mother
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“My most significant new discovery is not a fact at all. It is my approach to the story – to separate Ethel from Julius for the first time, not to see them as ‘The Rosenbergs’. Julius clearly was a spy, however insignificant. Ethel was an individual who has been brutally denied her voice and her humanity, which I have tried to restore to her”
he biographer, journalist and historian Anne Sebba has tackled figures ranging from Winston Churchill’s mother to Wallis Simpson, and has done so with aplomb, wit and authority. And now, her latest book Ethel Rosenberg deals with perhaps her most hot-button topic to date, namely the innocence and martyrdom of the supposed Russian spy Ethel Rosenberg. We discussed all things historical, biographical and how she managed to change the well-worn narrative when it came to Mrs Simpson. CHAP: Your most recent book, Ethel Rosenberg, is a revisionist account of the life and death of Ethel Rosenberg and her husband Julius. What first drew you to the subject? SEBBA: I didn’t set out to be either revisionist or deliberately provocative but on the other hand I recognised there were several reasons why now, almost 70 years since the electrocution of the Rosenbergs, it was time to tell the story with fresh
eyes. There are still people alive who will remember the event – one hopes – and yet it is far enough away to be less painful. If the proverbial dust has settled perhaps the issues can be discussed with
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