Genealogy Books - Hons and Rebels (New York Review Books Classics)

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Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: Coming of age as a "ballroom pink"
Comment: The Mitfords, the six daughters of Baron Redesdale, were inescapable fixtures of England's cultural
life in the Thirties; as their mother noted, she needed only pick up a newspaper to see invariably a
headline about "Peer's daughter" and she'd know one of them was in trouble. Eccentric, funny,
intelligent and lively, one became a one became a novelist (Nancy), one became a fascist (Diana),
one became a countrywoman (Pamela), one became a Nazi (Unity), and one became a duchess (Deborah).
The second to youngest, Jessica, became a communist and then a famous muckraking journalist, and
wrote THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH as well as this very funny memoir of growing up Mitford. Given
almost no education while being raised in Gloucestershire and London, she eloped with Churchill's
nephew Esmond Romilly to Spain, and then found work with him in America as the war began across the
Atlantic. The memoir gives a fascinating account of what it was like to live as what her sisters
dismissingly term "a ballroom pink" in the Thirties, but is most memorable, of course, for its
detailing of her sisters' hilarious observations about class, snobbery, sex and one another: when it
is announced their King is going to marry an American with the unprepossesing name of Wallis
Simpson, for example, the sisters refuse to believe it ("That cannot be her real Christian name!").

Customer Rating:

Summary: Surprisingly interesting
Comment: Several things about this book were interesting. How alien to our current sensibilites for someone
to want to go to school so badly, but have their parents consider it an unnecessary frivolity.
Mitford also gives a real sense of what the lead-up to WWII was like. Again, I was fascinated that
up until the Nazis invaded France, it wasn't clear if England would fight the Nazis or the Soviets.
How strange sounding. And that some in the Engligh upper classes admired Hitler ("We could do with
Hitler in this country"). Wow, I didn't expect that.

There were some problems with
Mitfords biography. I really wanted more information on what happened to Boud and the rest of the
British fascists once the war started. Secondly, Esmonds death is literally nothing more than a
footnote, near the end of the story, which I thought was rather quickly brought to a close. No
information as to what Mitford was up to during and after the war? I almost expected a sequel to
cover the period from 1940 to the 60's.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Poignant memoir of happier days
Comment: One of my favourite books of all time, Jessica Mitford's Hons and Rebels is her personal account of
her childhood as a member of the eccentric, aristocratic family of Lord and Lady Redesdale, and of
what happened after that - when she ran away from home to fight in the Spanish Civil War, eloping
with a distant cousin. The family were a constant presence in the British press in the first half
of the twentieth century, and this book gives the story of their lives from the other side.
Impossibly impractical, the author was entirely unprepared for any semblance of independent living -
she writes amusingly of her early attempts at housekeeping, including doing the washing-up by
washing, drying and putting away each dish before tackling the next one, and sweeping the staircase
from the bottom to the top. Personal tragedies, however, are glossed over - the sudden deaths of
two of her children are barely mentioned, overshadowed by the family's associations with such famous
historical figures as Churchill and Hitler.

As another reviewer mentioned, 'Decca',
as she was known, wasn't one to let the truth get in the way of a good story, so don't take every
word as gospel - just enjoy this book for what it is, a highly original and amusing memoir.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Fascinating and funny
Comment: The fascist, the writer, the country girl, the Nazi, the communist, and the Duchess... the six
Mitford sisters are truly one of the most fascinating group of people of the 20th century. This is
Jessica "Decca" Mitford's story: she's the communist. A cousin of Winston Churchill, she rebelled
early against her eccentic high-society family and eloped with her cousin (not Winston, obviously: a
different cousin, who had been kicked out of several prestigious schools for his political beliefs).
She witnessed the Spanish Civil War, lunched with Katharine Graham, lost her first husband in WWII,
fled the country just in the nick of time to avoid her very own McCarthy hearing, and dedicated her
life to uncovering institutional corruption and scamming of the the American public. Through it
all, she retained her excellent sense of humor, her undeniable charm, and an unmistakable
grace.

It is a little disapointing that this book ends when it does, as Decca certainly continued
to lead a fascinating life. However, it is always a priveledge to see inside the Mitford family,
especially from the point of view of someone who felt that she was an outsider in the family
(whether that was actually true or not is up for discussion).

Customer Rating:

Summary: My Mitford summer
Comment: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I wish I'd read it sooner. Jessica fills in the details of her
story, which has been told in other books, but this in her own words. She wrote with wit and
humor.

It was fun to read about her plotting to run away from home. She was the bravest of the
bunch I think.

The travels in America are interesting to read. Her observations of Americans
are on the mark. I was tickled to read how she enjoyed central heating in country houses here
considering the cold houses the Mitfords lived in.

In the last chapter she tells of her love for
her husband which is very touching.

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