Robert Matzen is an American author who specializes in Hollywood history and World War II. He uses creative fiction techniques to translate meticulous research into a narrative that draws readers in. His eighth book, “Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn in World War II,” was released by GoodKnight Books in April 2019. His seventh, “Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe,” shot to bestseller status during the 2016 holiday season and earned national media coverage, including an essay by Robert in the Wall Street Journal. He toured with the book at venues across the United States through 2017.
Matzen leveraged his 10 years working at NASA Headquarters in aeronautics communications for his sixth book, “Fireball: Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3,” which rose to #2 on the Amazon bestseller list for Biography, earned praise from the Smithsonian, and won the 2015 Benjamin Franklin Award. His bylines have appeared in the Wall Street Journal and TIME magazine, among other publications.
With every book, Matzen gets personal with history. For “Dutch Girl” this meant spending weeks in the Netherlands talking to the people who lived through the war with Audrey Hepburn. For “Mission” he flew in B‑17 and B‑24 bombers and walked the muddy fields of Jimmy Stewart’s base at Tibenham, England. And for “Fireball” he famously climbed a mountain – Mount Potosi, Nevada – to explore the wreckage of TWA Flight 3.
