November 2009
Anniversary Noontime Film Series
From the Vaults: War & Conflict
Thursday, November 12, at noon
William G. McGowan Theater, Washington, DC, building
Today we present a selection of short films from the holdings of the National Archives including Our America at War (1941), John Huston’s The Battle of San Pietro (1944), UN Offensive (1950), and others. (75 minutes.) Please note-some scenes may be disturbing to younger viewers.
Anniversary Noontime Literary Lecture Series
Sisterhood of Spies, by Elizabeth P. McIntosh
November 18 at noon
Jefferson Room, Washington, DC, building
Sisterhood of Spies is a real-life James Bond story. The heroines here, however, are women risking their lives in the service of a country at war. Elizabeth P. McIntosh was a reporter in Hawaii when the Office of Strategic Services (the CIA's precursor) recruited her to aid in its campaign of wartime disinformation. Fifty-five years later, she tells the story of the women who served with her undercover—some of whom have also achieved aboveground celebrity, such as Marlene Dietrich and Julia Child. The narratives contained in Sisterhood of Spies couldn't be any more gripping if they were written as fiction: Nazi interrogation ordeals, daring escapes across mountain passes, expeditions behind enemy lines, even Mata Hari-style affairs. McIntosh's book is a fond ode to these women and their bravery.
