First published 1972
Daniel Isaacson sits in Columbia University's library, supposedly working on his dissertation. Instead, he writes about his executed parents. Years have passed since Paul and Rochelle Isaacson died in the electric chair for allegedly stealing atomic secrets for Russia. Daniel has built a new life with his wife and son, pursuing graduate studies, but rage consumes him. His sister Susan's radical activism shames him into confronting their shared past. Daniel records memories of riding buses to Paul Robeson concerts, watching FBI agents arrest his father, visiting his parents in the Death House. He interviews people who knew them and researches their case in the library stacks. He judges everyone involved: lawyers, police, informers, friends, and his own family. The story moves between Daniel's present struggles and his childhood trauma, exploring how political persecution destroyed one family and shaped the survivors.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, biographical-fiction, academic
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Columbia University, Death House
Period: 1950s
Mass Market Paperback · Signet
Content warnings: death