Please join the Charleston Library Society in welcoming author Jeffrey H. Jackson & New York Times contributor Emily Yellin for a conversation on Jackson’s recent book, Paper Bullets: Two Artists Who Risked Their Lives to Defy the Nazis. Paper Bullets is the first book to tell the history of an audacious anti-Nazi campaign undertaken by an unlikely pair: two French women, Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe (artist names Claude Cahun & Marcel Moore), who drew on their skills as Parisian avant-garde artists to write and distribute “paper bullets”—wicked insults against Hitler, calls to rebel, and subversive fictional dialogues designed to demoralize Nazi troops occupying their adopted home on the British Channel Island of Jersey. Paper Bullets is a compelling World War II story that has not been told before, about the galvanizing power of art, and of resistance.
This event is free, but an RSVP is required. To RSVP, fill out the RSVP form at the bottom of the page. You will receive your Zoom invitation email on the day of the event.
To purchase a copy of Paper Bullets, click here: https://buxton-books.square.site/product/paper-bullets/3203?cs=true
ABOUT THE BOOK:
“A Nazi resistance story like none you’ve ever heard or read.” —Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers and On Desperate Ground
“Every page is gripping, and the amount of new research is nothing short of mind-boggling. A brilliant book for the ages!” —Douglas Brinkley, author of American Moonshot
Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
Paper Bullets is the first book to tell the history of an audacious anti-Nazi campaign undertaken by an unlikely pair: two French women, Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe, who drew on their skills as Parisian avant-garde artists to write and distribute “paper bullets”—wicked insults against Hitler, calls to rebel, and subversive fictional dialogues designed to demoralize Nazi troops occupying their adopted home on the British Channel Island of Jersey. Devising their own PSYOPS campaign, they slipped their notes into soldier’s pockets or tucked them inside newsstand magazines.
Hunted by the secret field police, Lucy and Suzanne were finally betrayed in 1944, when the Germans imprisoned them, and tried them in a court martial, sentencing them to death for their actions. Ultimately they survived, but even in jail, they continued to fight the Nazis by reaching out to other prisoners and spreading a message of hope.
Better remembered today by their artist names, Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, the couple’s actions were even more courageous because of who they were: lesbian partners known for cross-dressing and creating the kind of gender-bending work that the Nazis would come to call “degenerate art.” In addition, Lucy was half Jewish, and they had communist affiliations in Paris, where they attended political rallies with Surrealists and socialized with artists like Gertrude Stein.
Paper Bullets is a compelling World War II story that has not been told before, about the galvanizing power of art, and of resistance.
ABOUT EMILY:
Emily Yellin is a reporter, author and producer, who is currently leading a multimedia journalism project called Striking Voices, centered around in-depth video interviews with some of the Memphis sanitation workers who went on strike in 1968, and their wives, sons and daughters. Emily is a longtime contributor to The New York Times, mostly writing about the South, race and women’s issues. She has also written for Time, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, Smithsonian Magazine, and other publications. She is the author of two books: Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us (Simon & Schuster, 2009) and Our Mothers’ War (Simon & Schuster 2004) She has lived in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and London, but now lives in Memphis, with her two dogs named Layla and Gus.
