At the height of the Cold War, Ethel Rosenberg  was the first woman in America to be electrocuted for a crime other than murder, accused of being a Soviet spy, together with her husband Julius. She was thirty seven and the mother of two small boys. 

In her  meticulous biography, British biographer Anne Sebba  separates out Ethel’s story from her husband’s and examines her  difficult family history to paint a nuanced and often very moving portrait of a woman with a strong sense of honour and a steely courage. 

She also tells the story of a previous  quest which yielded every biographer’s dream - a cache of unpublished material whose contents were explosive.

Produced by David Roach for Two Heads Media and Jennifer Macey

Music composed and performed by Amanda Brown and produced by Lilly Pilli 

This podcast is made on Dharrawal country.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life Sentences is back for Season 2. The best biographers in the business tell Caroline Baum about getting access to previously closed archives and co-operation from some of the world’s most famous subjects. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Long before self help books became a multi-million dollar industry when anxiety was not  a subject of public conversation,  Dr Claire Weekes, an intrepid Australian scientist found a way to cure anxiety and teach sufferers how to manage their panic attacks. Her books became international best-sellers, but her name became forgotten with time.  Judith Hoare’s biography tells her remarkable story.

Producers: Jennifer Macey and David Roach

Life Sentences is a Two Heads Media production

Music:Blue Dot Sessions

www. carolinebaum.com.au

All the books in this series are available from good bookshops and online.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why would anyone write a 700 page doorstop about Australia’s supposedly worst-ever prime minister, especially when his leadership lasted less than two years? As a novice of the genre, Patrick Mullins set himself a mammoth task, and faced daunting obstacles, but the result, Tiberius With A Telephone, won him the National Biography Award. 

Producers: Jennifer Macey and David Roach

Life Sentences is a Two Heads Media production

Music: Blue Dot Sessions

www. carolinebaum.com.au

All the books in this series are available from good bookshops and online.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sport has produced very few worthwhile biographies that are not just PR. But Patrick Skene has written a multi-faceted portrait of pioneer Pasifika rugby league player Olsen Filipaina, exploring his deep Maori/Samoan identity. His closeness to his mother and his wife helped him withstand the setbacks and racist slurs that plagued his career.

Producers: Jennifer Macey and David Roach

Life Sentences is a Two Heads Media production

Music: Blue Dot Sessions

www. carolinebaum.com.au

All the books in this series are available from good bookshops and online.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, feminist biographer Helen Ennis talks about the life of photographer Olive Cotton and how she addressed her subject’s natural reticence and modesty to bring the attention she deserved to a major Australian artist of the 20th century. 

Life Sentences is a Two Heads Media production

Producers: David Roach and Jennifer Macey

Music: Blue Dot Sessions

www.carolinebaum.com.au

All the books in this series are available from good bookshops and online.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Robert Wainwright talks about the gold he found in archives while researching the story of Sheila Chisholm, a  glamorous Australian who became intimate with the royal family and how that led him to his next subject, Enid Lindeman, another prominent figure in the most exclusive circles.

Life Sentences is a Two Heads Media production

Producers: David Roach and Jennifer Macey

Music: Blue Dot Sessions

www.carolinebaum.com.au

All the books in this series are available from good bookshops and online.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Caroline talks to biographer Jacqueline Kent about wrangling a subject’s  relatives and  dealing with critics as part of of her experience writing the biographies of Julia Gillard and early Australian feminist Vida Goldstein.

Life Sentences is a Two Heads Media production

Producers: David Roach and Jennifer Macey

Music: Blue Dot Sessions

www.carolinebaum.com.au

All the books in this series are available from good bookshops and online.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode,  Caroline talks to Mark Mordue about the personal cost of spending ten years writing about musician Nick Cave, why he decided to alter his original concept of what the biography should be, focussing on Cave’s childhood and adolescence and his access to Cave’s friends and family.

Life Sentences is a Two Heads Media production

Producers: David Roach and Jennifer Macey

Music: Blue Dot Sessions

www.carolinebaum.com.au

All the books in this series are available from good bookshops and online.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Caroline talks to controversial Tasmanian historian and essayist Cassandra Pybus about her unique connection to Truganini, one of the most famous First Nations figures in the island’s history. Cassandra  corrects several misconceptions about Truganini’s life at a time of brutal change. 

Life Sentences is a Two Heads Media production

Producers: David Roach and Jennifer Macey

Music: Blue Dot Sessions

www.carolinebaum.com.au

All the books in this series are available from good bookshops and online.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.