Self is now about halfway through Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy. Last night, she almost contemplated stopping, it is so painful, in hindsight, to read about Ethel's fate. She's already lost two full nights' sleep reading.

Nevertheless.

p. 135: The father-son legal team for the defense are Alexander and Manny Bloch (who have cut their teeth, according to journalist Anne Sebba, representing small bakeries in contract disputes.) For the prosecution: ROY COHN, and all the power of Edgar J. Hoover's FBI. The charge: treason (Apparently there was a time in America when treason was taken very seriously).

Bloch senior "attempted to separate Ethel from the alleged conspiracy in his opening remarks by describing her as a wife of twelve years' standing and a mother raising two young sons. "She was a housewife, basically a housewife and nothing more," Bloch senior insisted. "She did not transmit or conspire to transmit any information to any government . . . she was dragged into this case through the machinations of her own brother and her own sister-in-law, who in order to transfer and lighten their burden of responsibility, accused her of being a co-conspirator."

Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.