In 1925, the Indianapolis-born Janet Flanner took an assignment to write a regular ‘Letter from Paris’ for a lighthearted humor magazine called The New Yorker. She’d come to Paris to with dreams of writing about “Beauty with a Capital B.” Her employer, self-consciously apolitical, sought only breezy reports on French art and culture. But as she woke to the frightening signs of rising extremism, economic turmoil, and widespread discontent in Europe, Flanner ignored her editor’s directives, reinventing herself, her assignment, and The New Yorker in the process.
While working tirelessly to alert American readers to the dangers of the Third Reich, Flanner became gripped by the disturbing crimes of a man who embodied all of the darkness she was being forced to confront. Eugen Weidmann, a German con-man and murderer, and the last man to be publicly executed in France—mere weeks before the outbreak of WWII. Flanner covered his crimes, capture, and highly politicized trial, seeing the case as a metaphor for understanding the tumultuous years through which she’d just passed and to prepare herself for the dangers to come.
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In "The Typewriter and the Guillotine," Mark Braude unveils the untold story of Janet Flanner, a pioneering Paris correspondent for The New Yorker. As the shadows of fascism loomed over Europe, Flanner found herself entangled in the sensational case of a German serial killer, Eugen Weidmann, who stalked the streets of Paris on the brink of World War II. Originally sent to write lighthearted pieces for a humor magazine, Flanner's keen observations of the rising extremism and economic turmoil in Europe compelled her to redefine her role and the very nature of her assignment.
Flanner's journey is one of personal and professional transformation. As she alerted American readers to the dangers posed by the Third Reich, she also grappled with the chilling crimes of Weidmann, the last man publicly executed in France. His trial became a metaphor for the tumultuous times she was witnessing, blending her journalistic pursuits with a gripping narrative of crime and societal upheaval. "The Typewriter and the Guillotine" is a captivating tale of an indomitable journalist navigating a glamorous yet perilous world, rich with romance and intrigue.
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Readers connected to this book most often reflect Psychological Moral Explorer reader archetypes. Their strongest shared genre interests include Crime, Mystery, Thriller, and Literary Fiction. They are commonly drawn to themes such as Psychological Moral Explorer, Exploring Justice And Consequence, Seeking Dark Psychological Tension, and Exploring The Fractured Self.
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