The Imposter’s War: The Press, Propaganda, and the Newsman Who Battled for the Minds of America

In this superb debut, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Arsenault tells the stranger-than-fiction story of the efforts of John Rathom (1868–1923), the Australian-born editor of the Providence Journal, to shift American attitudes toward involvement in WWI. Rathom spent months exposing German covert operations in the U.S., documenting sabotage, campaigns to undermine industry and labor, and even a plot to incite a war with Mexico. In response to this relentless drumbeat, President Woodrow Wilson ordered the recall of two top-ranking German diplomats implicated in Rathom’s accounts. But Rathom’s fidelity to the truth was highly selective, and even his name was false. Digging both by the pro-German press and federal investigators exposed his unwarranted taking of credit for others’ work and outright lies. Arsenault’s own sleuthing details this remarkable character’s entire life, even coming up with a convincing case for Rathom’s real name and origins. His eye-opening account, which also covers a Navy scandal that could have derailed FDR’s political career, is a valuable look at both the ethics of journalism that prioritizes the ends over the means and century-old antecedents for foreign propaganda disseminated as part of a sophisticated scheme. Not only those interested in the path that led the U.S. to enter WWI in 1917 will be enthralled. Agent: Michael Signorelli, Aevitas. (Apr.)