Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women in the OSS
by Lisa
Rogak
Published: March 4,
2025 by St. Martin's Press
Genre: Non-Fiction,
WWII
Taken from Goodreads: The incredible untold story of four women who helped win WWII by generating a wave of black propaganda.
Betty MacDonald was a 28-year-old reporter from Hawaii. Zuzka Lauwers grew up in a tiny Czechoslovakian village and knew five languages by the time she was 21. Jane Smith-Hutton was the wife of a naval attaché living in Tokyo. Marlene Dietrich, the German-American actress and singer, was of course one of the biggest stars of the 20th century. These four women, each fascinating in her own right, together contributed to one of the most covert and successful military campaigns in WWII.
As members of the OSS, their task was to create a secret brand of propaganda produced with the sole aim to break the morale of Axis soldiers. Working in the European theater, across enemy lines in occupied China, and in Washington, D.C., Betty, Zuzka, Jane, and Marlene forged letters and “official” military orders, wrote and produced entire newspapers, scripted radio broadcasts and songs, and even developed rumors for undercover spies and double agents to spread to the enemy. And outside of a small group of spies, no one knew they existed. Until now.
In Propaganda Girls, bestselling author Lisa Rogak brings to vivid life the incredible true story of four unsung heroes, whose spellbinding achievements would change the course of history.
My Thoughts: I
enjoyed learning about women making a difference during World War II in
"Propaganda Girls," which follows four women who join the OSS. The
concept of propaganda, telling partial truths to make enemies surrender, was
new to me. It was fascinating to learn how this propaganda was created and
distributed to the enemies.
Propaganda Girls is structured with alternating chapters, each focusing on one of the four women in the book: Betty, Zuzka, Jane, and Marlene. All four are part of the OSS, contributing to the war effort in different ways. Each woman had her own reason for joining the war efforts, and none were considered more important than the others. They all played a role in assisting in the end of WWII.
A copy of the book was provided by St. Martin’s Press in
exchange for an honest review.
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Her books have been reviewed and otherwise mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, and hundreds of other publications. She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show as the featured guest in a show about small towns to promote her book, Moving to the Country Once and For All.
She served as co-author with famed YouTube star Rich Benoit on his memoir Going Fast and Fixing Things: True Stories from the World’s Most Popular DIY Repair Expert and Car Aficionado, and helped the late librarian Jan Louch tell the story of the world’s most famous library cats in The True Tails of Baker and Taylor: The Library Cats Who Left Their Pawprints on a Small Town . . . and the World
The Man Behind the DaVinci Code, her biography of famed author Dan Brown, was published in two dozen languages. In 2020, she published Rachel Maddow, the first biography of the acclaimed MSNBC anchor followed by Alex Trebek: A Biography.
Her biography of famed cartoonist, A Boy Named Shel: The Life and Times of Shel Silverstein, is currently in development for release as a major motion picture.
She lives in New Hampshire and is currently at work on a memoir.
Sarabeth.Haring@stmartinspress.com
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