Author Description

Leni Riefenstahl and Marlene Dietrich both came of age in Weimar Berlin, a time of great political ferment. Both women seized upon the revolutionary energy of the 1920s, seeking careers on the stage and in film. In the 1930s, Riefenstahl became the official filmmaker of the Third Reich, a progenitor of fascist symbolism. Dietrich's slender and androgynous beauty made her a fashion icon. Both women had their grand passions, but neither abandoned ambition for the sake of love. Wieland brings to vivid life a time of international upheaval, chronicling radical evolutions of politics, fame, and femininity on a grand stage.