“Decca” Mitford lived a larger-than-life life: born into the British aristocracy—one of the famous (and sometimes infamous) Mitford sisters—she ran away to Spain during the Spanish Civil War with her cousin Esmond Romilly, Winston Churchill’s nephew, then came to America, became a tireless political activist and a member of the Communist Party, and embarked on a brilliant career as a memoirist and muckraking journalist (her funeral-industry exposé, The American Way of Death, became an instant classic). She was a celebrated wit, a charmer, and throughout her life a prolific and passionate writer of letters—now gathered here. Decca’s correspondence crackles with irreverent humor and mischief, and with acute insight into human behavior (and misbehavior) that attests to her generous experience of the worlds of politics, the arts, journalism, publishing, and high and low society. Here is correspondence with everyone from Katharine Graham and George Jackson, Betty Friedan, Miss Manners, Julie Andrews, Maya Angelou, Harry Truman, and Hillary Rodham Clinton to Decca’s sisters the Duchess of Devonshire and the novelist Nancy Mitford, her parents, her husbands, her children, and her grandchildren. In a profile of J.K. Rowling, The Daily Telegraph (UK), said, “Her favorite drink is gin and tonic, her least favorite food, trip. Her heroine is Jessica Mitford.”

Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford

Biographies & Memoirs

Jessica. Mitford

Community & Culture

KNOPF

Mitford, Jessica, Fine Old Conflict, A

A fine old conflict

Leaders & Notable People

Alfred.A. Knopf

Before the turn of the century, the American funeral was simple "to the point of starkness," says Jessica Mitford, the acclaimed muckraking journalist who published this investigation of the country's funeral business in 1963. That the country went on to develop a  tendency for gross overspending on funerals Mitford puts down to the greed and ingenuity of undertakers, whom she regards as salesmen guilty of pressuring families into agreeing to their excessive standards for burial. Mitford, who died recently, delivers facts and criticism in a forthright and humorous manner. She would certainly appreciate that her assessment of the American way of death endures after her own passing.

American Way of Death

Self-Help

Death & Grief

Fawcett Crest Books

'Whenever I read the words "Peer's Daughter" in a headline,' Lady Redesdale once sadly remarked, 'I know it's going to be something about one of you children.' The Mitford family is one of the century's most enigmatic, made notorious by Nancy's novels, Diana's marriage to Sir Oswald Mosley, Unity's infatuation with Hitler, Debo's marriage to a duke and Jessica's passionate commitment to communism. Hons and Rebels is an enchanting and deeply absorbing memoir of an isolated and eccentric upbringing which conceals beneath its witty, light-hearted surface much wisdom and depth of feeling.

Hons and Rebels

Memoirs

Gollancz

Detailed expose of the funeral industry which so often preys on a bereaved family in order to reap a large profit

The American Way of Death

Business & Money

Simon&Schuster

The American Way of Death (A Touchstone Book)

SIMON AND SCHUSTER

Before the turn of the century, the American funeral was simple "to the point of starkness," says Jessica Mitford, the acclaimed muckraking journalist who published this investigation of the country's funeral business in 1963. That the country went on to develop a tendency for gross overspending on funerals Mitford puts down to the greed and ingenuity of undertakers, whom she regards as salesmen guilty of pressuring families into agreeing to their excessive standards for burial.

A memoir of the Mitfords - one of the twentieth century's most extraordinary families.

Quartet Books

The Trial Of Dr. Spock. The Ren. William Sloane Coffin Jr., Michael Ferber, Mitchell Goodman, And Marcus Raskin - 1st Edition/1st Printing

"Mitford's funny and unforgiving book is the best memento mori we are likely to get. It should be updated and reissued each decade for our spiritual health."--The New York Review of Books\nOnly the scathing wit and searching intelligence of Jessica Mitford could turn an exposé of the American funeral industry into a book that is at once deadly serious and side-splittingly funny. When first published in 1963 this landmark of investigative journalism became a runaway bestseller and resulted in legislation to protect grieving families from the unscrupulous sales practices of those in "the dismal trade."\nJust before her death in 1996, Mitford thoroughly revised and updated her classic study. The American Way of Death Revisited confronts new trends, including the success of the profession's lobbyists in Washington, inflated cremation costs, the telemarketing of pay-in-advance graves, and the effects of monopolies in a death-care industry now dominated by multinational corporations. With its hard-nosed consumer activism and a satiric vision out of Evelyn Waugh's novel The Loved One, The American Way of Death Revisited will not fail to inform, delight, and disturb.\n"Brilliant--hilarious--A must-read for anyone planning to throw a funeral in their lifetime."--New York Post\n"Witty and penetrating--it speaks the truth."--The Washington Post

The American Way of Death Revisited

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Virago

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Jessica. Mitford. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Jessica. Mitford

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Jessica. Mitford. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford

A fine old conflict

American Way of Death

Hons and Rebels

The American Way of Death

The American Way of Death (A Touchstone Book)

The American Way of Death

Hons and Rebels

The Trial Of Dr. Spock. The Ren. William Sloane Coffin Jr., Michael Ferber, Mitchell Goodman, And Marcus Raskin - 1st Edition/1st Printing

The American Way of Death Revisited