000			01968n m a2200217 a 4500
001			045734
005			20231009192747.0
008			070413t2006-------a----------000-u-eng-u
020			_a978-0-375-41032-1
082	0		_a92 MIT
100	1		_aMitford, Jessica _d, 1917-1996
245	1	0	_aDecca _b: the letters of Jessica Mitford _c/ edited by Peter Y. Sussman
260			_aNew York _b: Alfred A. Knopf _c, c2006.
300			_a744 p. _b: ill. _c; 24 cm.
520			_aThis 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.
600	1	4	_aMitford, Jessica _d, 1917-1996.
650		4	_aWomen communists _z-United States _x-Correspondence
650		4	_aWomen journalists _z-United States _v--Correspondence
650		4	_aBritish Americans _x-Correspondence
942			_cMO
999			_c251244 _d251244