This well-researched WWII non-fiction book provides an engaging and informative look into the lives of four remarkable women who served in the OSS during the war. Among them are Betty MacDonald, Jane Smith Hutton, Zurka Lauwers, and the well-known Marlene Dietrich. All of these women worked for the Morale Operations branch. Their stories are rich with themes of equality, intelligence, and heroism. These women dedicated their lives to fighting for justice, often alongside soldiers and colleagues in war zones, making their legacies truly unforgettable.

Often, I forgot I was reading a biography—the writing style and the compelling stories of these remarkable women kept me thoroughly engaged. It is truly astonishing what they risked their lives to accomplish. Great WWII read!

Thank you Net Galley, St Martins Press and Lisa Rogak for a chance to read this arc. All thoughts are my own.

Propaganda Girls by Lisa Rogak provides a well-written, well-researched, and indepth look at four women, whose work in the new Morale Operations division of the Office of Strategic Services, provided strategic aid to the Allies during WWII. The four women, Elizabeth ‘Betty’ McDonald, Jane Smith Hudson, Barbara ‘Zuzka’ Lauwers, and well-known German-American actress, Marlene Dietrich developed black propaganda, that is, ‘any leaflet, poster, radio broadcast, or other public or private media that appeared to come from within the enemy country, either from a resistance movement or from disgruntled soldiers and civilians’. It's purposes were manyfold - to convince soldiers to surrender, to make the general population believe the war was unwinnable, and to encourage occupied countries and POWs to resist. Women were specifically recruited because it was thought they would be more imaginative in developing gossipy but believable stories to undermine the enemy.

The story delves deeply into the lives of the women before, during, and after the war, including the discrimination they faced while serving, despite the important and effective work they were doing. And the propaganda they developed proved to be very effective at undermining the enemy in both Europe and Japan. A fascinating look at the rarely mentioned but important role women played in creating black propaganda and, in so doing, helping to end the war.

I read an eARC of the book from St Martin’s Press while listening to the audiobook from Macmillan Audio narrated bySamara Naeymi who does a marvelous job. I received both book and audiobook from Netgalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a wonderfully written account of a lesser known aspect of WWII. While soldiers were on the frontlines battling the Axis Powers, there was the Office of Strategic Services working behind the scenes to sow discord and mistrust within our enemies ranks. The author provides a rich story of four women who were part of the OSS and the varied ways they contributed to this amazing wartime effort, from writing propaganda to using POWs to help smuggle misinformation to broadcasting music with a twist. Highly recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in the hidden aspects of our history.

4+ absorbing stars

Propaganda Girls is the absorbing story of four American women living around the world – in Tokyo, Hawaii, originally from a tiny Czechoslovakian village, and the only one I was familiar with, Marlene Dietrich a German-American singer and actress. From the publisher: “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.”

Propaganda Girls was thoroughly researched and well-written. Experienced author Lisa Rogak wove the stories of these four disparate women of the world together in an organized way. All were fiercely independent and thought creatively about how to create and disseminate propaganda to enemy troops while working for the OSS. (Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the CIA.) Rogak pointed out the blatant sex discrimination these women faced in both pay, rank, and male attitudes. War and separation were very hard on marriages and relationships for these women too. Yet they persevered and made a difference. I like how Rogak gave a short synopsis of each woman’s life after the war.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Propaganda Girls is an interesting non-fiction narrative that contributes to our understanding of some of the roles where women contributed to helping win WWII. It is an outstanding change of pace from the glut of formulaic historical-fiction currently in vogue.

Four women whose unheralded actions helped win the war

During World War II and before the creation of the CIA, General "Wild Bill" Donovan headed up that agency's precursor known as the OSS (Office of Strategic Services). The Morale Operations (MO) branch was a division of the OSS whose task was to create "black propaganda", composed of media (print or broadcast) whose purpose was to undercut the morale of the enemy and which purported to originate within the enemy country, from a resistance group, disillusioned soldiers, or civilians who had had enough. It was known to be an effective tool with which to target an enemy, especially when they are no longer seen to be winning the conflict. In this book four specific women who each played a powerful role within the MO are introduced to the reader; one name will be familiar to most, albeit not in this context, while the other three will be complete unknowns. How could that be possible? Combine a clandestine organization and a category of employee who was regularly underestimated and under-appreciated (women), and it is not only possible but highly likely that these women would be overlooked by the history books. That now changes and within these pages the reader will be introduced to: Betty MacDonald, a reporter by trade; Jane Smith-Hutton, married to a naval attaché and would spend time imprisoned in the US Embassy in Japan; Zuska Lauwers, a native of Czechoslovakia with a gift for learning languages whose impulsive marriage to an American allowed her to escape to the US; and Marlene Dietrich, in her role as a propagandist against her native country in service of the US. Their motivations differed, but their dedication and contribution to the war effort ties them together...four women whose pre-war lives demonstrated that they were not afraid to buck conventions and pursue unusual occupation who would each find ways to sow discontent amongst the Axis forces across the globe.
I am thrilled that more and more stories are coming out about women who have made contributions to the world that have remained unknown for decades, and this is another of those books bringing important facts to light. Told in alternating chapters, each one dedicated to a part of one of the four subjects' lives, the reader gets to learn about who each woman was, their background and motivations, their professional journeys which led them to the MO, what they did within the MO, and finally how they readjusted to life postwar. Like many women who worked hard and achieved successes during the war, they found that their abilities were not so readily utilized afterwards. Along the way there were marriages, children, losses and victories...and what a story each had to tell. The subject matter is fascinating, and although there is some repetition which drags down the narrative at times it is still a fairly quick and enjoyable read, with each person's unique voice and personality coming through. Readers of authors like Liza Mundy, Clare Mulley and Aline Countess of Romanones , as well as those who enjoy learning about previously hidden slices of history will enjoy Propaganda Girls. My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for granting me early access in exchange for my honest review.

I like biographies and I like stories about strong women. This book brings both of them, and shows us a side of the true story that we wouldn't normally know.
An informative and interesting read, especially if you watched and enjoyed the movie The Six Triple Eight.
5 stars

This well-researched book tells the story of 4 young women working undercover for the OSS to create propaganda to demoralize enemy soldiers during WW2. Bored with limited opportunities to get involved in the war, these women were recruited based on their sense of adventure. I was impressed by their creativity as well as the freedom they were given to spread false information. One of the women was Marlene Dietrich, the famed actress and singer of the 1930s and 40s. She recorded songs for the enemy soldiers with lyrics meant to bring them down. I didn't realize she had such a pivotal role in the war! While the stories of these women are true, the book reads like a novel. Unputdownable!

The Propaganda Girls were a small group of women in the OSS in the latter stages of World War II. Their job was to develop and distribute whatever they could to disrupt both German and Japanese war efforts. Rogak takes a deep dive into four of these women. It wasn't clear to me if there were more than four.

One of these women was the actress Marlene Dietrich who would just blatantly broadcast into Germany while undertaking a variety of other activities to undermine the Nazis. The other three women were obviously less well-known. One was an eastern European whose family had suffered at the hands of the Nazis, one was the wife of a US diplomatic officer who had served in Japan, and the fourth had a number of ties in a variety of countries around the globe.

Their activities ranged from simply creating and distributing pamphlets to recruiting spies to carrying out sabotage. They did all this while overcoming some real prejudices within the military leadership of some of the OSS officers.

This was a fund book. I found it a really good read about something I knew nothing about.

Did you know that Marlene Deitrich spent much of the war years traveling around the world uplifting US soldiers? This non-fiction work details the lives of 4 women who aided the US cause by creating propaganda for the Axis civilian population. In Marlene's case, since she was German, she recorded music with lyrics to demoralize the enemy.

The other 3 women had these kinds of false marketing jobs spreading leaflets and news stories. Some of them were hilarious, like sending leaflets throughout German camps in Italy as if written by women looking to provide comfort for soldiers. Those signing up were to wear an attached emblem. Many put the emblem on and eventually surrendered.

The stories were well-written and engaging, almost like a WW2 spy novel. The 4 women the author chose to highlight were a diverse group, including 2 German speakers and 2 Japanese speakers, some famous and most not, some rich and some poor. I found it interesting how the war changed these women so much, and most couldn't go back to the lives they had before. But not all. It was excellent representation.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Lisa Rogak, for the opportunity to review an advanced copy.

This was such an amazing and informative read. I thought it was so interesting to learn about the women spies of WW2.

I really enjoyed this book about four remarkable women and their experiences in the OSS during World War II. The author’s choice of these four women gives us a range of experiences and a truly global tale. The women really come to life in these pages through their remarkable adventures.

Whether you’re interested in World War II history or women’s history, you’ll enjoy the stories in these pages. Plus, it’s a cautionary tale about the power of propaganda.

This was a fantastic book that showed a side of WWII that most of us have never seen. This book chronicles the lives of four very different women with a few things in common. However, one thing they did have in common was an aptitude for languages.

The of the women you most likely have never heard of unless you were in the OSS (now the CIA) and the very famous Marlene Dietrich (who gave up her German citizenship and became an Amercan because of the war).

As explained in the synopsis of the book, these four women (Betty, Zuzka, Jane, and Marlene) became famous for working with the OSS in a covert and successful military campaign that created propaganda of the dark kind.

This book is written with chapters based on each woman. We glimpse through their eyes the atrocities of this war, and we see them do their part to fight it. We also get a good look at the gender inequality of the times.

This was a difficult book for me to put down - so I didn't! I loved every minute of it and came out of this thinking that I could have been friends with any or all of them. The author made them into flesh and blood instead of just characters on a page.

I highly recommend this book and think it would be a perfect read for book clubs that are looking for a history book that isn't dry and is a bit unusual.

*ARC supplied by the publisher St. Martin's Press/ Macmillan, the author, and NetGalley.

This book was amazing! I have always been interested in reading about WWI and WWII, and especially involving women's role during this wars. Men went off to fight, but women also played a crucial role whether that was direct involvement in war efforts or taking over the husband's duties while they were serving.

This book did not disappoint!! I had never heard of these women before this book, but now that I have am I so impressed. Betty MacDonald really stuck out to me, but all of the women have amazing stories and roles.

Betty MacDonald, Zuzka Lauwers, Jane Smith-Hutton, and Marlene Dietrich all felt the call during WWII to get directly involved... and their efforts are what ultimatley contributed to the end of the war by using their intelligence, wit and drive to produce propaganda which was sent out to essentially break the spirits of Axis soldiers.

It was so interesting to read the creative ways that these women got involved in WWII. They used their smarts and talents to raise morale for our men and to break the morale of Axis soldiers. I loved reading about the Marlene's involvement in the entertainement business and Betty's involvement in writing books.

This was such a face paced read and very inspiring if I do say so. I think it is so important that the efforts that women put forth in what may be deemed a male-dominated area are brought forth. There are so many intelligent women both today and in the past that we can look to as role models and any four of these women mentioned in this work of nonfiction do not fall short of that!

The stories of these four women are remarkable, made all the more so because the stories are true. The potential reader would think that the solo story of Marlene Dietrich would be more interesting than the others, but the other stories are as compelling as that of Ms. Dietrich, famous as she was for her many exploits in stage and screen, as well as her contempt of Nazis and Hitler.

I think most people know that women were involved in WWII, but I don't think most people realize how involved they were. This book carefully sketches the accomplishments of four women who took matters into their own hands and showed bravery and inventiveness in order to get information to our allies and maybe more importantly, to get disinformation to our enemies. More non-fiction stories should be written about the involvement of women in war-time.

My appreciation to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I find the older I get the more I find myself interested in historical fiction and so when I saw the opportunity to jump into a non-fiction about 4 badass women in world war 2, I jumped on it! That being said, maybe it’s my fiction loving self that found this a bit tough to get through. The histories depicted in this book brought new insight to me into world war 2 and how women were making strides despite the time but I craved a bit more from the story telling. It’s a quick read and definitely offers great perspective into something we definitely were not taught about the war!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Marten’s press for this e-ARC!

I received an advance reading copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley.com in exchange for a fair review. Author Lisa Rogak presents the story of four remarkable women who worked for 'Wild Bill Donovan' and the OSS (the precursor to the CIA) during World War II. The ladies included: Betty McDonald (a reporter from Hawaii), Zuzka Lauwers (a multi-lingual lady from Czechoslovakia), Jane Smith Hutton (the wife of a naval attaché and living in Tokyo) and the very famous Marlene Dietrich (renowned actress originally from Germany) who vehemently denounced the Nazis. These ladies were fierce in churning out all types of propaganda--both written and oral--urging enemy soldiers to surrender by convincing them that they were losing the war. Their creativity and bravery should not go unnoticed and Rogak brings their stories up front and center. Donovan pretty much gave them free reign, allowing these women to come up with their own ideas and then execute them. My only complain about this book is that i wish it was more in-depth. It seemed to only scratch the surface of what these four ladies actually accomplished, and the bravery required.

Propaganda Girls by Lisa Rogak is a gripping, eye-opening look at the young women behind North Korea’s carefully crafted image. Blending history, politics, and personal stories, Rogak unveils the unsettling reality behind the regime’s propaganda machine. Fascinating, unsettling, and impossible to put down—this is a must-read for anyone intrigued by the power of media and control.

Propaganda Girls is an interesting read on an area of WWII that has received little if any attention. Rogak shares the stories of four women who worked to create black propaganda--propaganda designed to look as if it came from internal sources--to help win WWII on both the European and Pacific fronts. The four women each have their own unique story told in alternating chapters, and although there is some overlap between the women, each is described distinctly enough to keep their stories straight. Although this is a quick read, readers get a good look into the lives of the four women before, during, and after the war and specific details about their undercover work. A chapter at the end to wrap up the story and maybe give a bit of information on how black propaganda has been used since WWII would've been nice, but Rogak does a nice job of otherwise wrapping everything up with a neat bow.

This is a well-written, meticulously researched, informative WWII non-fiction book. It is told from the point of view of four distinct women who served in the OSS during WWII. I was thoroughly immersed in their fascinating stories, and look forward to learning more about these incredible, brave, intelligent and heroic women. The author's acknowledgement, bibliography, and footnotes are enlightening and are truly appreciated. Many thanks to Ms. Rogak, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley, from whom I received an advanced reader copy of this engrossing book. This is my honest opinion.

Where in the world do authors find these otherwise unknown stories and then bring them into the light for all of us to learn from?? Known as Donovan's Dreamers, I was fascinated by the heroism of these 4 women, who were part of the group who turned half truths into out and out lies in order to turn the Axis of WWII on its head and get the war weary enemy soldiers to defect to the Allies side. Through carefully designed slogans, stories in newspapers or magazines or pamphlets which were placed strategically throughout the Axis theatre, these women were able to "hurt people better, maybe, than men could think of."( @35%) General "Wild Bill" Donovan headed up the Office of Strategic Services, aka OSS, what would become the CIA today and found women who he believed had the brain power to pull off this "black propaganda." Over the course of the war, the OSS, was extremely effective in getting enemy soldiers to lose heart and go over to the other side.
At a time when men were off fighting, women were more than happy to help the war effort. The women highlighted in this book were already in the work force, when the thinking was that women should only be at home raising children and going to garden parties. The author shares each of their backgrounds and their discontentment in traditional roles. Betty MacDonald, Jane Smith-Hutton, Zuzka Lauwers and actress Marlene Dietrich were some of those tasked with this incredible role which had amazing results over the course of the 4 years they were involved and all have said in interviews after the war, it was the best job they ever held and were gratified to help the war effort in this way. Working in this job however was not without the gender prejudice they felt in civilian life as many higher ups still looked down on the work they were doing for the war effort as women couldn't possibly be as effective as men in the role of propaganda agents.
Truly enjoyed the story but it could have benefited from some more tension-filled moments to keep it from becoming too dry. That said, I am glad to know about these amazing women and what
they did to put their stamp on turning the tide of WWII.