Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy

“It seemed the perfect way to fight my war.”– Josephine Baker No American was ever more beloved by the French nation than Josephine Baker. In France’s hour of greatest peril she risked everything returning that love. Using her fame for cover during the Second World War she spied on the Axis for the French Resistance and Allies. Baker’s heroism is now fully documented in a thrilling narrative. Her patriotism was formally recognized in 2021 when she was interred in the French Pantheon. It’s the highest honor that can be conferred on a citizen of France. Only the sixth woman, Baker joined an elite echelon of some 100 national heroes, including writers and philosophers Voltaire and Rousseau, physicist Marie Curie, novelists Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. Damien Lewis is the media-savvy British author of some twenty WWII histories and novels. Agent Josephine has been adapted for a French mini-series and the recent theatrical movie “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” is based on his book by that title. His professional background is in journalism including award-winning documentaries on North Africa. In interviews he often expresses awe at her “core of steely fortitude, an unbreakable spirit that was hard wired into her soul . . . it is more incredible than I ever imagined . . . defined by raw courage, maverick daring, double- and triple-bluff and fabulous c