Velvalee Dickinson - Libroj.org

Neniu kovrilo — Velvalee Dickinson (2019, Strategic Media Books)

150 paĝoj

Lingvo: English

Eldonita je 4-a de februaro 2019 de Strategic Media Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-939521-74-3

(1 recenzo)

Velvalee Dickinson was born in Sacramento, California, graduated from Stanford University, married three times, and then in the early 1930s moved to New York City where she eventually opened her own exclusive doll shop on the prestigious Madison Avenue. It was there that she built her reputation as an expert in rare, antique, and foreign dolls. She traveled extensively around the country lecturing and exhibiting her dolls while building a wealthy clientele that included Hollywood stars, members of high society, politicians, and other collectors.

When medical bills started to accumulate because of her husband’s poor health and business started to fail with the onset of World War II, she accepted the role as a spy for the Imperial Japanese Government. By hiding coded messages in her correspondence about dolls, she was able to pass on to her Japanese contacts critical military information about the US warships. After surveilling Velvalee for …

Velvalee Dickinson was born in Sacramento, California, graduated from Stanford University, married three times, and then in the early 1930s moved to New York City where she eventually opened her own exclusive doll shop on the prestigious Madison Avenue. It was there that she built her reputation as an expert in rare, antique, and foreign dolls. She traveled extensively around the country lecturing and exhibiting her dolls while building a wealthy clientele that included Hollywood stars, members of high society, politicians, and other collectors.

When medical bills started to accumulate because of her husband’s poor health and business started to fail with the onset of World War II, she accepted the role as a spy for the Imperial Japanese Government. By hiding coded messages in her correspondence about dolls, she was able to pass on to her Japanese contacts critical military information about the US warships. After surveilling Velvalee for over a year, the FBI arrested her and charged her with espionage and violation of censorship laws. She became the first American woman to face the death penalty on charges of spying for a wartime enemy.

Velvalee Dickinson: The “Doll Woman” Spy is a carefully researched glimpse into the “Doll Woman’s” life as a collector of dolls, and as the highest paid American woman who spied for the Imperial Japanese Government during World War II.

2 eldonoj

Stephanie Jane recenzis Velvalee Dickinson de Barbara Casey

An interesting glimpse into a secretive life

3 steloj

Perhaps unsurprising for a wartime spy, Velvalee Dickinson was a quiet secretive person. Little is known about her life other than her infamous trial and the events immediately pertaining to it so Barbara Casey had her work cut out here to create this biography. I thought she did well in putting across the wartime paranoia about all things Japanese in the wake of Pearl Harbor, especially the suspicions surrounding the five Doll Letters. They would certainly have looked completely innocuous to me without the code having been explained. It was also interesting that Velvalee managed to become quite the celebrity expert for a few years - her fame transcending just doll collector circles - despite aspersions being later cast on just how much knowledge she actually had of antique dolls. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Casey spreads her net far and wide to flesh out this biography so we also …

Perhaps unsurprising for a wartime spy, Velvalee Dickinson was a quiet secretive person. Little is known about her life other than her infamous trial and the events immediately pertaining to it so Barbara Casey had her work cut out here to create this biography. I thought she did well in putting across the wartime paranoia about all things Japanese in the wake of Pearl Harbor, especially the suspicions surrounding the five Doll Letters. They would certainly have looked completely innocuous to me without the code having been explained. It was also interesting that Velvalee managed to become quite the celebrity expert for a few years - her fame transcending just doll collector circles - despite aspersions being later cast on just how much knowledge she actually had of antique dolls. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Casey spreads her net far and wide to flesh out this biography so we also get information about warships for example, and brief potted biographies of other people connected with Velvalee or with the espionage case. I appreciated the breadth of information although I would have liked more details on Velvalee herself. Sometimes I felt as though perhaps there wasn't enough known to justify this length of book. Overall The Doll Woman Spy is a satisfactory glimpse into a little known aspect of 1940s America.