From American heiress to Nazi resistance fighter, Muriel White's extraordinary journey reveals how one woman's privilege became her weapon against tyranny.

This compelling tale traces the intricately intertwined history of American high society with European nobility in the face of rising Nazism. A haunting saga of family in the turmoil and tragedy of the twentieth century.--Dina Gold, author of Stolen Legacy

Drawing from never-before-published memoirs and declassified CIA documents, The Countess and the Nazis unveils the remarkable true story of a woman who traded America's Gilded Age society for a title in Prussia's aristocracy--only to find herself making the ultimate sacrifice to protect her children from Hitler's regime.

As the daughter of one of America's most respected diplomats and the wife of a Prussian count, Muriel White Seherr-Thoss moved effortlessly through Europe's royal courts until the Nazi shadow fell across her adopted homeland. When faced with evil, she chose resistance over privilege:

• Leveraged her aristocratic connections to secure escape routes for Jewish families
• Witnessed the Italian Fascist invasion of Albania while mentoring the future Queen Geraldine
• Sacrificed everything to keep her sons from being conscripted into Hitler's army
• Defied the Gestapo even as they held her virtually prisoner in her own country

From internationally recognized historian Richard Jay Hutto comes a new biography that Publishers Weekly calls a fascinating story brought to light...an exhilarating account of principled antifascism. This narrative reveals how one woman's courage stood against the rising tide of evil and how she paid the ultimate price for her convictions.

New York City native Mary Esther Lee (1837-1914) first married in 1864 the Prince von Noer, brother of the Queen of Denmark, and was created a princess in her own right after his death. An active philanthropist to Protestant causes, she then married Count Alfred von Waldersee whose close ties to the Prussian court made her an intimate friend of Kaiser Wilhelm II and a mentor and valued friend to his young wife. Although she preferred to remain in the background, Mary's influence caused intense jealousy by those at court who resented her friendship with the kaiser and kaiserin. This biography chronicles the remarkable life of an American woman whose wealth and influence enabled her to rise to power in the Prussian royal court.

Florence Maybrick was the first American woman to be sentenced to death in England--for murdering her husband, a crime she almost certainly did not commit. Her 1889 trial was presided over by an openly misogynist judge who was later declared incompetent and died in an asylum. Hours before Maybrick was to be hanged, Queen Victoria reluctantly commuted her sentence to life in prison--in her opinion a woman who would commit adultery, as Maybrick had admitted, would also kill her husband.

Her children were taken from her; she never saw them again. Her mother worked for years to clear her name, enlisting the president of the United States and successive ambassadors, including Robert Todd Lincoln. Decades later, a gruesome diary was discovered that made Maybrick's husband a prime Jack the Ripper suspect.

A true southern tale of racism, murder, and taboo sex.