Lynne Olson is a New York Times bestselling author of eight books of history, most of which deal in some way with World War II and Britain’s crucial role in that conflict. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has called Olson “our era’s foremost chronicler of World War II politics and diplomacy.”
Her latest book, Madame Fourcade’s Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France’s Largest Spy Network Against the Nazis, will be published by Random House on March 5, 2019.
Two of Olson’s previous books, Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America’s Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941, and Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour, were New York Times bestsellers. Those Angry Days was named by the New York Times and Kirkus as one of the best books of 2013. Citizens of London was selected by the American Library Association as one of its top nonfiction books in 2010. It was also included on Amazon’s list of best books of the year.
Born in Hawaii, Olson graduated magna cum laude from the University of Arizona. Before becoming a full-time author, she worked as a journalist for ten years, first with the Associated Press as a national feature writer in New York, a foreign correspondent in AP’s Moscow bureau, and a political reporter in Washington. She left the AP to join the Washington bureau of the Baltimore Sun, where she covered national politics and eventually the White House.
Olson lives in Washington, DC with her husband, Stanley Cloud, with whom she co-authored two books.
Books in order of publication:
| The Murrow Boys: Pioneers on the Front Lines of Broadcast Journalism | 1996 |
| Freedom’s Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to 1970 | 2001 |
| A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II | 2003 |
| Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England | 2007 |
| Citizens of London: The Americans who Stood with Britain in its Darkest, Finest Hour | 2010 |
| Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America’s Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941 | 2013 |
| Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War | 2017 |
| Madame Fourcade’s Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France’s Largest Spy Network Against Hitler | 2019 |
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