Everything's Possible

Tom Rosenberg came with his family to America from Nazi Germany in 1938, at age six. His memoir describes his once-prosperous family's struggle to assimilate and live the American dream. Their first step on arriving in America was to adopt the anglicized name Ross.

As Tom Ross, Rosenberg worked for over fifty years in communications and public affairs.

In 2000, concerned as a naturalized citizen that immigrant-bashing was increasing throughout the U.S., the author reclaimed his family's Jewish heritage and the name Rosenberg. He published an essay in Newsweek's "My Turn" column that resonated across America: "I, too," he wrote, "am an immigrant."

Tom Rosenberg is most proud of the 1971 public-service campaign he directed that created the American River Parkway in Sacramento, and a statewide campaign in 1982 that raised $85 million for the Lake Tahoe Conservancy.

Rosenberg reveals in his memoir how the policies of Nixon and Reagan in the 1970s and 80s have been distorted by today's conservatives who advocate spending cuts and tax reductions as policies to promote jobs and prosperity. This misleading rhetoric, designed to create mistrust of government, follows the political truism that the public is more easily persuaded to vote against a policy or issue than to vote YES.

A resident of San Francisco and Sacramento, Rosenberg has been a frequent contributor to newspapers and public radio. His 2000 novel, Phantom on His Wheel, explored the ethical dilemmas confronting modern journalism.