Sydney Mitford, Jessica's mother, believed a woman should only make news twice-when she married and when she died. How incredibly different her vision for her second youngest daughter's life must have been compared to what it turned out to be! After running away from hope and eloping, Jessica and her first husband Esmond ditched their aristocratic British roots and moved to America. Upon his death, Jessica decided to stay in America rather than return to her (Nazi sympathizing) family during the second world war. That's where A Fine Old Conflict picks up.
This book is warm and funny like Hons & Rebels, but it is thicker and therefore contains much more. Jessica resigns herself to a boring life in Washington DC with her two year old daughter Dinky, content to make the best of it as a single mom. Until, that is, she meets an alarmingly kindred spirit in Bob Treuhaft-a red civil rights lawyer who comes off as rather an unsung hero throughout. Scared of her feelings and still sad over Esmond's death, she runs away yet again to California. An adorable romance ensues between Jessica and Bob, who moves all the way out to California on a whim after visiting. The two are wonderfully fit for one another, both with a teasing attitude and a sense of civil justice that makes you wish you knew them.
The real plot thickening, though, starts when the Treuhafts join the Communist Party officially. Jessica takes an overwhelmingly humourous look back on the party (so much so that she upset many of her old friends from the CP upon publishing) but one can tell that she does not regret having joined it. The many good deeds of the Communist Party were completely unknown to me, while the horrifying stuff did not come as a suprise. When the CIA started eeking Jessica out of jobs I knew it was going to be a scrap. Bob's testimony at the "trial" was by far the best part of the whole book. He is rather under-written about in the many Mitford bios, but if this book is accurate he was downright brave.
The Treuhafts were rather remarkable. Twenty years before the civil rights movement, they were one of the very few people of their time who actively fought against injustices against African Americans. Bob's mother, who comes to visit about halfway through the memoir remarks woefully to Jessica "I wish I was black, then you would love me". Bob, who was Jewish, never met Jessica's sisters Unity and Diana who were friends of Hitler. Jessica's daughter Dinky bit ones hand if you put it in front of her for too long, and called it a "filthy German".
Of course, this memoir is not a very intimate one. None of the Mitford girls were particularly fond of overt emoition, but Jessica was even less so. She does not, for example, mention the birth or death of her son Nicky during the time period this book takes place, because she found it too painful to write about. It's not distracting, even if you know about it, but what is a bit annoying is Jessica's vagueness about her beliefs. She never says really why she leaves the Communist Party, or even why she joined it in the first place. You would know nothing of her idealogy by reading this book; it simply isn't there. So, if you're looking for an in-depth, searching account of a troubled soul, you might want to look elsewhere. However if you want an amusing and warm account of an interesting life, A Fine Old Conflict is your book.
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Book info --- A fine old conflict -Jessica Mitford
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2018
Book info --- A fine old conflict -Jessica Mitford-Publisher- Knopf, borzoi book ,1977. - First edition January 1, 1977 about 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches, Illustrated with eight pages of photos jacket painting by Edward Sorel printed USA -9780394499956- Book length 333 Subjects Political Science › Political Ideologies › Communism & Socialism Biography & Autobiography / General Communists - United States - Biography - Mitford, Jessica,- A Fine Old Conflict is about her life in the America communist party, her problems with the CIA as a result and her later career as a muckraker.radical leftist before, during, and after WWII. Incredibly interesting. The highlight of the book was her romance with her husband . Still fresh thirty years after publication, - excellent testimony on life in the CPUSA, McCarthyism, birth of the New Left.A fine old conflict by Jessica Mitford (1977-05-03)
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2018
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