Decca

Starred review from July 31, 2006
Best known for her classic funeral-industry exposé, The American Way of Death
, Jessica Mitford (1917– 1996) was fifth of the famous Mitford sisters, but rebelled against her privileged English roots to become a member of the American Communist Party and union organizer, a civil rights activist and a celebrated investigative journalist. Sussman, a former longtime editor at the San Francisco Chronicle
, has gathered an array of letters that capture Mitford's legendary wit, warmth and self-deprecating humor: decades of exuberant—and sometimes sparring—correspondence with friends, including civil rights activists Virginia and Clifford Durr, publisher Katharine Graham, journalist Shana Alexander, writers Kay Boyle and Maya Angelou. Mitford's prickly relations with her aristocratic clan are much in evidence, as is her estrangement from its fascist members; writing to Winston Churchill in 1943, she unswervingly protests the release from prison of her sister Diana Mosley and Diana's husband, the British fascist leader Oswald Mosley. Relating her bold emigration to the United States with her cousin and first husband, Communist journalist Esmond Romilly; her resilience as a war widow in a foreign country with an infant daughter; and the evident happiness of her 50-year marriage to her second husband, radical labor attorney Robert Treuhaft, Mitford's letters crackle with wit and mordant observations. 59 illus.

September 1, 2006
This collection of the correspondences of the late writer Jessica -Decca - Mitford (d. 1996) begins with notes to her mother in 1923 and concludes ten days before her death with a letter to her sister. In between, there are letters to her large circle of friends, business associates, and -frenemies. - Letters were an essential part of Decca -s life. As editor Sussman (coauthor, "Committing Journalism: The Prison Writings of Red Hog") eloquently summarizes, they served as -chatty updates on her activities, masterful exercises in storytelling, and as early drafts for her professional writing. - The chronological arrangement provides readers with an intimate glimpse of Decca -s existence -e.g., the aristocratic English family from which she fled as a teenager, her work with the Communist Party and as a professional writer, and her emergence as a best-selling author ("The American Way of Death"). In the introductory essays preceding each of the nine sections, Sussman identifies people, puts events in historical context, and meticulously elaborates on elements in the letters. His analysis of Decca -s influence on her immediate circle of intimates as well as her impact on the larger community -both national and international -is perceptive and illuminating. Highly recommended for all collections." -Kathryn R. Bartelt, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 15, 2006
Fifth of the noted Mitford sisters, Jessica (called Decca since childhood) eschewed family politics but kept her mother's practice of prodigious letter writing, leaving reams of lively correspondence to family and friends, including some of the intelligentsia of her time. Her letters are forthright, warm, and witty to the point of being laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes serving as epistolary notes for her investigative journalism. Dubbed "Queen of the Muckrakers" for her landmark book " The American Way of Death," she took strong stands against injustice and exploitation, becoming estranged from family members, particularly sisters Unity and Diana, early friends of Hitler. (In 1943 she wrote Winston Churchill, uncle of her first husband, who died in action in the war, protesting his release from prison of Diana and her Fascist leader husband.) Each of nine chronological chapters begins with photographs and brief biographical summaries, providing social history from Decca's days as a Communist Party member and civil-rights activist to acclaimed author. From childhood notes to her parents to a letter to her husband of 53 years, labor lawyer Bob Treuhaft, days before her death in 1996, this is a treasure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)