Dorothy Thompson and German Writers in Defense of Democracy (Kulturtransfer und Geschlechterforschung)

Drawing on a wealth of archival material, this book investigates work and life of Dorothy Thompson, the eminent journalist who in 1928 married American novelist Sinclair Lewis. In the following decade she became the most influential American woman next to Eleanor Roosevelt. Thompson's extensive network of friends and collaborators included prominent personalities on both sides of the Atlantic: Hamilton Fish Armstrong, Lion Feuchtwanger, Marcel Fodor, Ben Huebsch, Annette Kolb, Fritz Kortner, Thomas Mann, H. L. Mencken, Helmuth James von Moltke, Eugenie Schwarzwald, Christa Winsloe, and Carl Zuckmayer. Her prolific public engagement against Hitler and on behalf of refugees and exiled writers was based on the conviction that one was not possible without the other. A fierce opponent of isolationism, she declared that indifference towards totalitarianism or the refugee crisis would destroy democracy not only abroad but also in the United States. Cover 1 Table of contents 9 Foreword 13 Introduction 15 Chapter 1: Foundations 43 Chapter 2: Europe—Crossing Over 71 Chapter 3: An American in Berlin 107 Chapter 4: Transatlantic Traveler 141 Chapter 5: First Lady of American Journalism 193 Conclusion 255 Acknowledgements 263 Works Cited 267 Index 289 Subject Index 289 Index of Names and Works 295 This book focuses on Dorothy Thompson's opposition to Hitler and totalitarianism. It relates her prolific engagement on behalf of refugees, persecuted Jews, and exiled writers to friendships and ideas formed in Vienna and Berlin during the Weimar Republic. Drawing on archival material, this book investigates work and life of Dorothy Thompson (1893-1961), the American journalist who in 1928 married American novelist Sinclair Lewis. 'The first lady of American journalism'