Olson, Lynne 1952–

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Olson, Lynne 1952–

PERSONAL: Born 1952; married Stanley Cloud (a writer); children: Carly. Education: University of Arizona, graduated c. 1971.

CARESSES: Home—Washington, DC. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Knopf Publishing, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Writer and journalist. Associated Press, reporter in Salt Lake City, UT, office, 1971, San Francisco, CA, office, 1972, New York, NY, office, Moscow correspondent, 1974–76, Washington, DC, office, 1976; Baltimore Sun, correspondent in Washington bureau, c. 1977–81; freelance writer, 1981–. Also assistant professor for five years at American University, Washington, DC.

AWARDS, HONORS: Christopher Award, 2002, for Freedom's Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to 1970.

WRITINGS:

(with husband, Stanley Cloud) The Murrow Boys: Pioneers on the Front Lines of Broadcast Journalism, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1996.

Freedom's Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to 1970, Scribner (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Stanley Cloud) A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron; Forgotten Heroes of World War II, Knopf (New York, NY), 2003, published as For Your Freedom and Ours: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II, William Heineman (London, England), 2003.

Contributor to periodicals, including American Heritage, Smithsonian, Working Woman, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Ms., Elle, Glamour, Washington Journalism Review, and Baltimore magazine.

SIDELIGHTS: Lynne Olson is a longtime journalist and freelance writer who has written historical/biographical books with her husband, Stanley Cloud, and a solo effort titled Freedom's Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to 1970. Considered the first comprehensive book about women's involvement in the civil rights movement, Freedom's Daughters recounts the activities of women from the days of slavery on through the modern movement for racial equality in America. Olson pays special attention to the meetings and relationships between white and black women, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Pauli Murray, who led the first civil rights protest sit-in in 1944. The author points out that these relationships were vital to the movement since many of these women held leadership roles. Others discussed in the book include women such as Ida Mae Wells, a leader in the antilynching movement in the 1890s, and Rosa Parks, who sparked the Montgomery bus boycott when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. The author also delves into such organizations as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which played a important role in pushing for black voter registration in Mississippi. "Overall, Olson's analysis of SNCC and the Montgomery boycott superbly merges previous accounts of these events with current scholarship on SNCC," wrote Ann Short Chirhart in a review in the Journal of Southern History. The reviewer went on to note, "Clearly, many courageous women made the civil rights movement successful, and Freedom's Daughters makes a compelling addition to the movement's history."

Working with Cloud, Olson wrote The Murrow Boys: Pioneers on the Front Lines of Broadcast Journalism. The book looks at the core crew of correspondents hired by legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow before and during World War II to help create the news bureau at the Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. (CBS). In A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron; Forgotten Heroes of World War II, which was published in England as For Your Freedom and Ours: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II, Olson and Cloud recount the mostly unrecognized and forgotten contributions made by Polish expatriates in the fight against Germany. As the title suggests, most of the book focuses on exploits of five Polish flyers who fled Poland after its invasion by Germany in World War II and went on to fly countless missions for the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and play a vital role in England's victory in the Battle of Britain in the process. As members of the Kosciuszko Squadron, RAF Squadron 303, which was named after American Revolutionary War hero Tadeusz Kosciuszko, these fliers "set records for aerial combat among the RAF for air-to-air kills against the Nazi air force," noted Kevin C.M. Benson in a review in Armor. Commenting on the book and the pilots in Kliatt, Raymond Puffer wrote, "Some had been in the outclassed Polish air force, others were civilians, but all were determined to fight against the Nazis, anytime and anywhere." Despite their dedication to the cause, however, the authors point out that these flyers earned little respect and were often mistreated. Puffer commented that their mistreatment "ranged from casual ingratitude to near-betrayal at the highest levels."

In a review of A Question of Honor in Newsweek International, Andrew Nagorski called the book "an impassioned, riveting account" of how these flyers and their home country of Poland were ultimately betrayed by the Allies after the war in an effort to appease the Soviet Union. Dale Farris wrote in the Library Journal that "the authors bring to life these courageous men as they struggled to reclaim their national heritage." Michael Karwowski, writing in the Contemporary Review, called the book "passionate and beautifully written." Spectator contributor Montagu Curzon commented, "Irksome as it is to read of Britain as traitor and coward, please swallow the pill and do so, because this is a tremendous story, grippingly told."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Armor, May-June, 2005, Kevin C.M. Benson, review of A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron; Forgotten Heroes of World War II, p. 51.

Booklist, September 15, 2003, Gilbert Taylor, review of A Question of Honor, p. 198.

Contemporary Review, July, 2004, Michael Karwowski, review of For Your Freedom and Ours: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II, p. 53.

Journal of Southern History, August, 2003, Ann Short Chirhart, review of Freedom's Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to 1970, p. 744.

Kliaat, January, 2005, Raymond Puffer, review of A Question of Honor, p. 34.

Library Journal, August, 2003, Dale Farris, review of A Question of Honor, p. 104.

Newsweek International, October 6, 2003, Andrew Nagorski, review of A Question of Honor, p. 62.

Spectator, December 6, 2003, Montagu Curzon, review of For Your Freedom and Ours, p. 57.