Over the last 72 years, the media often connects the misdeeds of famous and infamous women to the name “Axis Sally”.  Who was she? Currently, two very popular movies “Brothers in Arms” and Spike Lees “Miracle at St. Anna” recreate Axis Sally.  Who was she? Type the name “Axis Sally” on Google, Yahoo or any of the search engines and hundreds of snippets will appear.  Who was she? Look up “Axis Sally” on any of the biographical web sites or encyclopedias and the name Mildred Gillers, along with a summary of transgressions that leave you wondering who is this person? Order the book and you will know.

To set the scene, enter the world of 25 year old Mildred Gillars. It is 1925, an out of control stock market charges ahead, making even the most naïve investor wealthy. Do-gooders and religious fanatics blaming drink as the root of all evil,  pressure Congress into passing laws prohibiting the sale or consumption of alcohol. Overnight the United States becomes “Dry”. This “Prohibition” only increases societies' thirst. “Gangsters” become “Bootleggers” and grow rich selling contraband liquor. Lawmen are easily bribed. A feeling of moral rebellion develops among the people. Women wear less, experience more and calling themselves “Flappers” dance to the newly discovered fast beat of “Jazz”. America is in a “party mood”.

By the fall of 1929, the party was over; the Stock Market collapsed.  Overnight the “newly rich” became the “newly destitute”. Banks and businesses closed.  America’s economy was all but destroyed; the nation slipped into what would become its worst and longest depression. Most of the men were unemployed and for women, decent employment was hopeless. 

Mildred Gillars, seeing no future for herself in this depression-ravaged America, booked passage on a ship bound for Europe. She did not return again to the United States until 1949. This is the story of the twenty year period when Mildred Gillars made the journey from obscurity in a depressed United States to celebrity in Europe as she balanced on the edge in a world of deception and destruction.

Order the Book.