Catherine Grace Katz — Shadow Before the Flame: The Hindenburg Disaster and the Prelude to War - With Robert Costa
Catherine Grace Katz presents *Shadow Before the Flame*, her history of the Hindenburg disaster and its place at the intersection of technological change, rising Nazism, and the approach of World War II. Robert Costa joins Katz for a conversation about the 1937 catastrophe, which lasted just thirty-seven seconds but ended the era of passenger airships and became an early example of modern breaking-news coverage.
Katz’s account draws on lesser-known research and follows a diverse group connected to the disaster, including survivors, an heiress, a celebrated acrobat, a German Jewish man trying to protect his family from the Nazis, a young cabin boy on his first voyage, and two journalists reporting from the scene. The event also examines the growing tensions between Germany and the United States in the 1930s and the period’s transformation from optimism about aviation and innovation to the inevitability of war.
Katz is a Chicago-based writer and historian, the author of *The Daughters of Yalta*. She studied history at Harvard and modern European history at the University of Cambridge, later worked in finance, and earned a law degree from Harvard in 2023. Costa is a national correspondent for *CBS News Sunday Morning* and chief Washington analyst for CBS News. He previously reported for *The Washington Post* and served as moderator and managing editor of PBS’s *Washington Week*.
When: Saturday, September 26, 2026
Showtime: 5:00 p.m.
Venue: Politics and Prose at 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW, 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
Format: Catherine Grace Katz in conversation with Robert Costa
Tickets: Free
Seating: Seating is first come, first served.
Accessibility: To request accommodations or ask about accessibility, email events@politics-prose.com, ideally at least one week before the event. The venue will make an effort to accommodate requests made up to the event.
Related book: *Shadow Before the Flame: The Hindenburg Disaster and the Prelude to War* by Catherine Grace Katz is a hardcover published September 22, 2026, with a listed price of $38.00.