Nonfictioneers Book Group

About this event

This month's selection is The Dragon from Chicago: the Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany by Pamela D. Toler. The Dragon from Chicago tells the gripping tale of American journalist Sigrid Schultz's fights on two to establish herself as a serious foreign correspondent in an era when her male colleagues saw a powerful unmarried woman as a “freak” and to keep the news flowing out of Nazi Germany despite the regime’s tightening controls on the media. Schultz was the Chicago Tribune 's Berlin bureau chief and primary foreign correspondent for Central Europe from 1925 to January 1941, and one of the first reporters—male or female—to warn American readers of the growing dangers of Nazism. Drawing on extensive archival research, Pamela D. Toler unearths the largely forgotten story of Schultz’s years spent courageously reporting the news from Berlin, from the revolts of 1919 through Nazi atrocities and air raids over Berlin in 1941. At a time when women reporters rarely wrote front page stories, Schultz pulled back the curtain on how the Nazis misreported the news to their own people, and how they attempted to control the foreign press through bribery and threats. Sharp and enlightening, Schultz’s story provides a vital lesson for how we can reclaim truth in an era marked by the spread of disinformation and claims of “fake news.” The Nonfictioneers book discussion group meets in-person on the first Tuesday of the month at 6:00 pm (except December) to discuss contemporary non-fiction titles. New readers are always welcome. Please register below. Many of the book discussion titles can be downloaded via the Library's Hoopla or Libby accounts. Please reach out to the Adult Services Department if you need assistance with downloading the title. Personal copies can also be purchased at Books on the Common at a 15% discount.