Shadow Before the Flame - by Catherine Grace Katz (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The gripping, definitive history of the Hindenburg disaster, the rise of the Nazis, and the road to World War II as never before told

On the evening of May 6, 1937, the majestic German zeppelin Hindenburg arrived before cheering crowds in Lakehurst, New Jersey, when suddenly, a titanic inferno lit up the sky. Thirty-four seconds later, the greatest airship ever to take flight was gone, destroyed in a ferocious blaze and eternally seared into historical memory.

Acclaimed historian Catherine Grace Katz unites groundbreaking research with thrilling narrative that situates this famous disaster squarely on the collision course between the decade's two prevailing currents. The Hindenburg began as a symbol of hope and progress, a gleaming technological marvel in the nascent age of aviation. But soon, the airship of dreams became a propaganda tool powering the rising Nazi regime. In this sweeping drama, Katz illustrates the story of the Hindenburg through the captivating passengers and crew caught in the grip of fate: an adventurous heiress, a renowned vaudeville star, a Chicago industrialist with German Jewish roots, an esteemed zeppelin captain, and a young cabin boy on his first voyage to the United States. Meanwhile, on the ground, two intrepid journalists' reporting on the Hindenburg fundamentally changed breaking news, paving the way for modern media.

In this rigorously researched, ticking-clock account, Shadow Before the Flame offers a portrait of an era when illusions of peace, fueled by the hubris of invention, hovered in suspended time as the clouds of an inevitable war loomed on the horizon. Above all, it is a story of humanity and of lives forever changed by a moment that served as a harbinger for the global conflagration yet to come.

Review Quotes

"By bringing new light to the Hindenburg disaster, Catherine Grace Katz has given us an absorbing tale of ambition, technology, culture, and geopolitics. Largely forgotten or only dimly recalled, it is fundamentally a human story that tells us much about the epochal twentieth century and the early hours of what we now call globalization. A stirring read."
--Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winner and New York Times bestselling author of American Struggle

"Catherine Grace Katz is an elegant writer and a highly skilled researcher. In Shadow Before the Flame, this potent combination gives readers a fascinating true story that will keep them glued to the page. I ate it up!"
--Candice Millard, New York Times bestselling author of River of the Gods

"The Hindenburg catastrophe was a powerful metaphor for the conflagration was to befall the whole world only twenty-eight months later, and Catherine Katz has put the disaster in its historical context superbly, with deep scholarship, a pacy narrative and gripping insights into the effects it had on those passengers and crew who somehow, incredibly, survived. Her tale has the readability of a thriller, but also the factual background of a profoundly researched history book. A remarkable achievement."
--Andrew Roberts, New York Times bestselling author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

"A gripping, sensitive account of one of the most infamous disasters in modern history. In meticulous detail, Catherine Grace Katz reveals the human side of the Hindenburg story and also the fascinating role the great airship--and its spectacular demise--played in Nazi propaganda and the birth of broadcast news."
--Adam Higginbotham, National Book Critics Circle Award-winner and New York Times bestselling author of Challenger

"An enthralling account of hubris and calamity, dismay and disbelief, and survival and endurance, set against growing anti-Semitism in Germany and rising international tensions propelling Europe towards war only two years later. Superbly structured, deftly plotted, and stylishly written, and mingling human stories with technological expertise. Catherine Grace Katz is the first historian to produce a definitive account of the infamous Hindenburg catastrophe."
--Sir David Cannadine, author of Queen Elizabeth II

"[E]xpansive, illuminating. . . . A talented historian's engrossing narrative of an iconic disaster in the sky."
--Kirkus (starred review)

"A well-researched title certain to thrill fans of WWII and aviation history."
--Booklist

About the Author

Catherine Grace Katz is a writer and historian from Winnetka, IL and the author of the acclaimed history, The Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War. She received degrees in History from Harvard and Christ's College, University of Cambridge, and a JD from Harvard Law School. Alongside her work as an historian, Catherine is an associate at an international law firm in Washington, D.C.