The Public Burning

Robert Coover · 1932–2024 · USA

Why it matters

The real 1953 execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg becomes a Times Square carnival, narrated by a fictionalized Richard Nixon and presided over by a folkloric Uncle Sam. Coover's most audacious novel turns Cold War paranoia into hallucinatory indictment.

At a glance

Sprawling, hallucinatory satire mixing real history, invented monologue, and carnival excess across 500-plus pages.