Coover, Robert

The Public Burning

ISBN: 067058200X
New York, NY: Viking Press, 1977. First Edition. Hardcover. Based on the true events surrounding the conviction and subsequent execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenburg, alleged Soviet Union spies in the late 1940s, Robert Coover (b.1932) satirizes the era of paranoia and offers a behind-the-curtain, funhouse mirror perspective on the politics and institutions of the United States during the Cold War. Fourteen years before the fall of the U.S.S.R. and just a few years after Gerald Ford took over for Richard Nixon, The Public Burning was unsupported by its publishers for fear of legal backlash since the Nixon administration is prominently featured, and the lines between fiction and reality are heavily blurred. The couple were convicted of espionage, though family members assert that they were victims of Cold War paranoia, and they were the first Americans to be executed for espionage during peacetime. Robert Coover’s retelling of the story distorts the familiar and personifies the looming ideologies that pervade the everyday lives of Americans: “Through its pages stride the larger-than-life Uncle Sam, staunch defender of the American Way of Life, and his evil counterpart, the Phantom, with his dark mysterious powers; the high and mighty in government, from Ike and Dick to statesmen, members of Congress, and the Supreme Court; stars of stage, screen, radio, and that burgeoning art, TV; plus a fair share of just plain folk, all moving, in their own ways, inexorably toward the fateful night in Times Square, to a great tribal in-gathering.” (from back flap) Hardcover in unclipped dust-jacket: First Edition, “First published in 1977 by The Viking Press” as stated on copyright page. Book is in Fine condition with only minor rubbing, bumping to fine edges and corner of front, back covers. Dust-jacket is in Near Fine condition with moderate bumping to fine edges; minor chipping, peeling along top edge with a couple small closed tears; minor creasing to same; moderate rubbing, scratching to front, back covers. An extra handling fee will be added for shipping due to the weight of this item. Fine / Near Fine. [Item #5949]

Price: $20.00