Propaganda Girls

By Lisa Rogak

Writing a biography about a small group of women must be quite challenging. Lisa Rogak divided her task into four main parts. First, she gives background separately on each of the four ladies: Betty MacDonald, a journalist who was living in Oahu when Pearl Harbor was bombed; Zuzka Lauwers, a bored, multilingual lawyer from the Czech Republic; Jane Smith-Hutton, wife of a naval attaché in Tokyo; and Marlene Dietrich, German-born actress and singer. 

In the next section of the book, Rogak describes individually their early introduction to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)—recruitment, training, and assignments. Then, in the section titled “Believable Lies,” the author describes the actual work the women did. They put in long, hard days, sometimes in less than ideal living and working conditions, but they loved the independence they had in accomplishing their tasks. Their branch was Morale Operations (MO) where they produced “black propaganda.” Always based on at least a kernel of truth, they created media with the goal of demoralizing enemy soldiers and also citizens in occupied areas. They learned as much as they could about the affected country to make it appear that the flyer, broadcast, or whatever media was chosen originated in the enemy country. In “Back to Reality,” Rogak discusses the difficulties each woman had in finding her place in the world when the war ended.

Propaganda Girls was extremely well researched with an extensive bibliography and footnotes. There are many quotes from those who knew the four women and from written resources. These references give authenticity to the biography. The format Rogak chose for this book is fairly rigid resulting in characters who are well-defined in each progression. They are, however, never infused with personality. If you like your nonfiction to be so exciting that it could be mistaken for fiction or be a page turner, then this will not be a good match for you. If you want to learn about women making a difference in World War II, probably saving lives, and working for less pay and respect than their male counterparts, then you’ll be satisfied with this glimpse into a portion of World War II history that has not been well-publicized.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Rating: 4/5

Category: Biography, Nonfiction, History

Publication:  March 4, 2025—St. Martin’s Press

Memorable Lines:

Marlene loved the job, and between the cross-country bond tours, working at the canteen, and making an occasional movie, she was exhausted all the time, but here was a way that she could directly affect the lives of thousands of young men who were about to put their lives on the line. She had found her calling.

Betty had crammed a lot of living into her century of life. But like Zuzka, Jane, and Marlene, her war service was the highlight of her life. “There was a real reason for what we were doing in those days,” she said. “A lot of the things we tried didn’t work, but it was war, and it was important.”

But after more than five years of war, Paris wasn’t in much better shape than Tokyo. The city was impassable in many places; apartment buildings and homes were in disrepair and often uninhabitable. Most buildings in the city had gone unheated for the length of the war, except for those that had been occupied by the Germans.