I love reading accounts of women and their impact on society, and in this case war efforts, but hate that we often have to wait generations and decades to do so. While I was already aware of Marlena Dietrich's war time efforts, I don't recall learning about Betty MacDonald, Zuzka Lauwers, or Jane Smith-Hutton. These four incredible women were instrumental in one of WWII most covert missions; the creation and spreading of propaganda amongst Axis soldiers with the sole purpose to break their will and ensure the forces were demoralized. From forging "official letters", writing and producing entire fake newspapers, and developing rumors to root out spies and double agents, these women were critical to our success in the European front.

If you enjoyed Radium Girls, Hidden Figures, or Code Girls this is one to add to your TBR.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the advance copy.

Wow I had no idea about any of this. Propaganda Girls the Secret War of the Women in the OSS tells the story of four brave women Marlene Dietrich, Betty McDonald, Jane Smith Hutton and Zuzka Lauwers who participated in the secret propaganda campaigns that contributed to the Allies winning the war.
This was a fascinating read! Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my advanced audio copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of the Audiobook.

I loved this one! The book follows a handful of women who spread propaganda across enemy lines to get them to surrender. It tells how these women stood up for themselves. Pressing for promotions they deserved and rarely received. It tells of their bravery.

As informative as this was, it read like a story more than a history book. It's just how I like nonfiction. Now that the book is over I find myself wanting more. I want more stories of women in the OSS.

The narrator did a fantastic job!

This was an incredibly interesting look into the lives of four women who worked for the OSS creating propaganda to demoralize Axis soldiers in Europe and Asia during World War II. I thought the book did a wonderful job weaving together the paths that brought all four to the OSS, their experiences in the OSS, and the work they did on both fronts. It was a very quick and interesting look into an aspect of World War II that I know very little about.

I really enjoyed this look at a handful of very influential women working with propaganda for the US during WW2. I’ve read some fictionalized versions of some of this based loosely on Zuzka in Rome and the USO teams like Marlena worked with but this fleshed out their real lives and real stories so much better.

I thought it was very well done - I liked both the facts, events, backgrounds of their lives and what they went thru all combined. It gave me the ability to be invested in them as well as what they did for the war and their skill set and experiences. The women are so inspiring in both what they accomplished and what they endured in a male-dominated and female-diminished environment, and they were absolutely brilliant.

The book is relatively short but I appreciated that rather than so many nonfiction histories that just get so bogged down in the details. This felt like a great balance of information and detail.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

Following the lives of several different women throughout the same time. It was a cool way to create new perspectives on women’s roles throughout theater. It was also that mind-boggling how many head games were running around. Using several different mediums to create misconceptions chaos and take advantage of it. Like intercepting people’s mail and changing the letters from their loved ones to be more fitting of the narrative that we wanted. Or forging newspapers and incentivizing people to pick them up with malaria medications. Movie stars donating their entire paychecks, especially in a time when women don’t really like earn our work outside the home up until recently. this is eye-opening.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an early audiobook edition of “Propaganda Girls” by Lisa Rogak, narrated by Samara Naeymi for an honest review. Samara Naeymi did a good job with the narration.

This is the nonfiction story of four smart, independent, resourceful women who, during WWII, spread propaganda to the enemy to push the enemy soldiers over the edge and get them to surrender—and it worked! Betty MacDonald, Zuzka Lauwers, Jane Smith, and Marlene Dietrich.

I have to admit, I thought this was going to be historical fiction, as I have been shying away from nonfiction because it reads like history books, but I was pleasantly surprised. The author/narrator told each woman’s story in a manner that did not read like a history book. The stories were quick, to the point, and written so that you connected with each woman’s history. Kudos to the author for telling these women’s stories, as it is an area that the history books won’t tell and is great for young women to read to see what is possible.

I love finding new WWII book with a unique subject line. This one followed some women that worked for the OSS. THE OSS was the Office of Strategic Services, I had to look up exactly what it was….an intelligence agency set up during WWII and later became the CIA. Now that we know that let’s talk about what this group of women did. We have Betty, Marlene, Zuzka and Jane, each with a different story as to not only why they joined the OSS, but also their adventures. I think Betty’s story was my favorite and I would love to hear which one of the four you liked best.

Four different memoirs of four different women during WWII. All from different walks of life around the world, but all with a desire to join in the USA army to fight.

They were part of a secret branch called the OSS. Their sole task was to spread what is called black propaganda, which is false propaganda to be spread to the enemies to crush their spirits and make them question their orders.

I had no idea this was a part of the war and was interested to hear their stories. Sometimes I felt bogged down with the dates and facts, but the stories will stay with me for a while.


Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Publishers for my free copy in exchange for my honest review

I received a complimentary copy of this book "Propaganda Girls" and all opinions expressed are my own. I listened to the audio book. I thought this was an interesting book to listen to. I love learning new things about history.

This is the true story of four women whose bravery helped win World War II. Betty Macdonald was a reporter from Hawaii, Zuzka Lauwers grew up in Czechoslovakia, Jane Smith-Hutton was the wife of a naval attaché, and Marlene Deitrich was a German American actress and singer.

Together, as part of the OSS, they forged “official” letters, scripted radio broadcasts, and developed rumors for double agents to spread to the enemy.

Trigger Warnings
War

Why Kirsten loves it
I am always interested in how women have shaped the wars of the past. Often unacknowledged, these women made a profound impact on the war efforts for their country and were truly instrumental in the downfall of Hilter and the Nazis. It’s wonderful that their story could be highlighted and their heroic actions get the recognition they deserve.

This is a delightful audio recording and a fascinating book. Following the lives of four women whose jobs during the war included fabricating propaganda and disseminating it to the axis powers, it is a look into a piece of history that is rarely taught.

Listening to Propaganda Girls was a wonderful experience! Thank you to NetGalley & MacMillan audio. Samara Naeymi has a lovely voice and did a fantastic job bringing four women’s stories to life.

This book is a fantastic non-fiction option for any historical/war fiction lovers. After reading The Women last year, I felt very drawn to the subject matter that Lisa Rogak especially surrounding women participating in war efforts in a time where they did not receive credit for their work. Betty, Jane, Zuzka and Marlene all worked tirelessly to bring the war to an end and raise morale on the Allied side. Their work to decrease morale for the Axis side of the war was fascinating, even more so when I think about current news stories and social media posts that feel like propaganda. I left reading this book with a new lens to view stories through and a new set to tools to examine the stories that I’m hearing. I am eternally grateful to the quiet tenacity of our war women.

Anytime I read a book that focuses on women in the past, I just get so mad. The patriarchy, as usual, tried to diminish these brave women. Their story deserves to be told and I was captivated by their bravery, strength and resilience. I loved that the author included women from all walks of life and showed how vital they were to the war.

This was so well written and researched and narrated! Loved the perspective of women who made a huge impact in WW2–fierce and independent and spunky—but sadly disregarded afterward like so many narratives go. I usually read HF about women in the resistance/SOE so this was an interesting perspective about the propaganda piece that not many realize was going on! (It’s usually just the propaganda of the enemies that we learn, not what we the USA distributed).

I really enjoyed this non fiction. The narration was very well done and the way the story was written was engaging and informative but not at all in a stuffy way that some non fiction read.

I loved learning about all of these incredible women!

Thanks to the publisher for the alc

A fantastic history of 4 women and their groundbreaking work during WWII. This book was fun to listen to, and I learned so much about wartime propaganda that I had never even imagined!

I loved this book! Each woman in this book have such a powerful story. I love a true history book, and women paid to make good propaganda was something I didn’t know about. I read this pretty quick, and it was an easy and interesting book.

If you’re a fan of books like Radium Girls or Hidden Figures, you’ll probably like this one. It’ll make a great book club read.

An interesting book about folks that haven't really been covered in popular culture before. A short but interesting listen!

I love stories (fiction and non fiction) of female ww2 heroes, especially those that are not well known. I was very excited for this book but overall wish it had been more factual and less speculation.