Reviews

One of the hardest things to believe is how quiet (come) the hinge moments of history. How fascism doesn't arrive in jackboots but in a dinner jacket, clearing its throat, complementlng the wine, and asking to see your papers...In The Countess and the Nazis, Richard J. Hutto—a lawyer, historian, and artful narrator of high-society dramas—turns his attention to the quietly harrowing life of Muriel White Seherr-Thoss, who lived through such a creaking hinge of history. Read full article here.
— Worth Magazine, Summer, 2025

Hutto’s writing is crisp, accessible, and deeply human. He never sensationalizes Muriel’s story. Instead, he lets the facts—and her choices—speak for themselves. The result is a biography that reads like a thriller, underpinned by the sobering truth that history is often shaped by the people who say nothing, as much as by those who act….
“Muriel’s story reminds us that neutrality is a choice—and often a dangerous one .
— Your Partner in Success Radio, June, 2025

Hutto brings Muriel's story to life… The author has done extensive research, bringing Muriel's unique life to the forefront. Muriel's descendants cooperated with Rick Hutto, providing documents, photos, and first-hand accounts of her exceptional life. The Countess and the Nazis is an excellent read and highly recommended.
— Royal Book News, 16 May, 2025

Hutto brings to light the fascinating story of Muriel White... an exhilarating account of principled antifascism.
— Publishers Weekly

Muriel Seherr-Thoss chose resistance over her privilege. Many family photos enliven this engrossing, recommended history that will take readers right into the difficult times it depicts.
— Library Journal, January, 2025

With extensive knowledge and prodigious research, Richard Jay Hutto has unearthed an extraordinary saga, ultimately tragic, proving once again that rich American girls should have nothing to do with unworthy European aristocrats. The book has an important subplot: the poignant story of Queen Geraldine of the Albanians. A most enjoyable read.
— Hugo Vickers, award-winning royal biographer and broadcaster; author of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece, and others

In Richard Jay Hutto’s The Countess and the Nazis, the only biography of Muriel White, a heroine relegated to a forgotten footnote of history, the author resurrects her remarkable story.
— Marlene Wagman-Geller, author of Women of Means and The Secret Lives of Royal Women

A Gilded Age American heiress with an impeccable social pedigree marries nobleman Count Hermann Seherr-Thoss of Prussian Silesia on the eve of World War I—and then all hell breaks loose. Richard Jay Hutto’s The Countess and the Nazis has glamour to spare, brand names from Queen Victoria to Ian Fleming, and international intrigue of the highest order—all played out in one family’s story.
— Donna M. Lucey, author of Sargent’s Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas and the New York Times best-selling Archie and Amélie: Love and Madness in the Gilded Age

Richard Jay Hutto’s The Countess and the Nazis is a vividly detailed account of rich Americans and European aristocrats, from the glamour of the Gilded Age to the deadly dangers of the Third Reich. At the heart of the story is the complex and courageous American heiress Muriel White, Countess Seherr-Thoss, who engages the reader from the dramatic first page through the rest of her turbulent life. Hutto describes her world and its famous and infamous characters as though he knew them all.
— Patricia Beard, author of After the Ball: Gilded Age Secrets, Boardroom Betrayals & the Party That Ignited the Great Wall Street Scandal of 1905

This compelling tale traces the intricately intertwined history of American high society with European nobility in the face of rising Nazism. A haunting saga of family in the turmoil and tragedy of the twentieth century.
— Dina Gold, author of Stolen Legacy: Nazi Theft and the Quest for Justice at Krausenstrasse 17/18, Berlin

Articles Featuring the Book:

New York Journal of Books review by Charles S. Weinblatt

March 8, 2025: The American aristocrat who stood up to Hitler — and even insulted him to his face - New York Post

The book was also featured in this January 22, 2025 article from the Polish weekly newspaper Tygodnik Prudnicki.