⭐⭐⭐½
Women doing daring, mostly unrecognized work during WWII? That is usually my reading catnip, and Propaganda Girlsshould have been an easy win. Lisa Rogak introduces Betty MacDonald, Zuzka Lauwers, Jane Smith-Hutton, and Marlene Dietrich—who used forged orders, phony newspapers, radio broadcasts, songs, and carefully planted rumors to rattle Axis soldiers.
Some of their schemes were wonderfully audacious. A fake “League of Lonely War Women” suggested German women were keeping soldiers back home company, while bogus Japanese military instructions encouraged troops to surrender rather than fight to the death. Marlene Dietrich even used broadcasts and her famous voice to slip messages to German listeners. Honestly, how did I not fly through this?
Unfortunately, I didn’t. For such lively material, the storytelling felt surprisingly flat and often read more like a parade of facts than a narrative. I kept setting the book aside, and it took me far longer to finish than most. I admired these clever, fearless women, but I never felt truly connected to them.
I’m glad their secret work is finally getting attention. The history fascinated me; the delivery simply didn’t. Call this an important story that needed a little more spark.
** Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a complimentary review copy. All opinions are my own.