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Leslie Brody

Irrepressible: The Life and Times of Jessica Mitford Hardcover – October 1, 2010

by Leslie Brody (Author)

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From the author of Red Star Sister
“An excellent biography. Brody has made the world a better place by telling [Mitford’s] saga so skillfully” (San Francisco Chronicle).

Admirers and detractors use the same words to describe Jessica Mitford: subversive, mischief-maker, muckraker. J.K. Rowling calls her her “most influential writer.” Those who knew her best simply called her Decca. Born into one of Britain’s most famous aristocratic families, she eloped with Winston Churchill’s nephew as a teenager. Their marriage severed ties with her privilege, a rupture exacerbated by the life she lead for seventy-eight years.

After arriving in the United States in 1939, Decca became one of the New Deal’s most notorious bureaucrats. For her the personal was political, especially as a civil rights activist and journalist. She coined the term frenemies, and as a member of the American Communist Party, she made several, though not among the Cold War witch hunters. When she left the Communist Party in 1958 after fifteen years, she promised to be subversive whenever the opportunity arose. True to her word, late in life she hit her stride as a writer, publishing nine books before her death in 1996.

Yoked to every important event for nearly all of the twentieth century, Decca not only was defined by the history she witnessed, but by bearing witness, helped to define that history.

“Brisk, engaging.” ―Wall Street Journal

“A valuable retelling of a provocative life.” ―Kirkus Reviews

Print length

400 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Counterpoint
Publication date

October 1, 2010
Dimensions

6.25 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

1582434530
ISBN-13

978-1582434537
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Jessica Mitford
438
Paperback
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Irrepressible

"Defying the odds, Leslie Brody has produced an excellent biography. Brody has made the world a better place by telling [Mitford's] saga so skillfully." —San Francisco Chronicle

"With passion, commitment, and a keen sense of adventure—the same qualities that defined her famous subject—Leslie Brody presents Jessica ‘Decca' Mitford as the delightfully complicated character she was: aristocrat, Communist, civil rights activist, mother, author, American dreamer. In brisk but sympathetic prose that will resonate even with those totally unfamiliar with Mitford, Brody traces the fascinating evolution of a woman whose life was shaped by the great political forces of her time, yet who always stayed true to herself and her personal vision. Irrepressible is a great, all–encompassing narrative in the age of niche." —Erin Aubry Kaplan, author of I, The People

"Such a refreshing biography of Decca! What an inspiration Leslie Brody's calm yet always vivid history should be to young rebellious souls oppressed by the gloomy cul–de–sac into which our national politics have drifted. Here's the story of a true rebel in the finest traditions of upper–class English women who kicked over the traces. Decca's journey took her from Republican Spain to Oakland, California. Brody is never better than when describing the energy and idealism of Communists in those vicious postwar years and Decca's humor and enormous bravery in the face of real physical danger." —Alexander Cockburn

About the Author

Leslie Brody has won the PEN Center USA West prize and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and several awards for her playwriting. She is the author of the memoir Red Star Sister and is a professor at the University of Redlands. She lives in Redlands, California.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Counterpoint; 1st Edition (October 1, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1582434530
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1582434537
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.56 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,707,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,683 in Social Activist Biographies
- #12,674 in Author Biographies

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Jaylia

A Welcome Book, Long Overdue

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 20, 2010

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Besides her own memoirs, which are limited in scope, we could only catch glimpses of Jessica in earlier books that are more about her sisters. Jessica is fascinating, a droll gadfly and jester who used her wits and endless energy to promote civil rights, uncover corruption and generally help the downtrodden, but even into adulthood latent communist sentiments meant she didn't mind stealing--jiggery pokery she called it--from people or institutions she felt had more than they needed. Reading about her exploits creates an irresistible sort of mental frisson because she was both superbly inspiring and spectacularly thoughtless, even cruel. At nineteen she ran away to Spain with her soon-to-be husband to fight the fascists, which was wonderful for the people and the cause she was able to help, but devastating to her family who had no idea where she was or what had happened to her. Maybe because less has been written about her later life I especially enjoyed the last sections of the book. By that point it was definitely a page turner for me--I couldn't put it down. If you've already read other Mitford books the first chapters may drag a little. POISON PENMANSHIP, a collection of Jessica's muckraking investigative reporting, was reissued this year and if you have both books you can follow along, reading her essays as they are covered in this biography.

8 people found this helpful

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KatPanama

Exceptional reading -- Deccalicious

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 17, 2010

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Yesterday I slurped up Leslie Brody's "Irrepressible: The Life and Times of Jessica Mitford." Splendid, superb, brilliant.

There's much that can go wrong with biography: too much detail, not enough detail, inability to detect unappealing attributes in the subject, tendency to over-focus on subject's unappealing attributes; lack of professional notes and sourcing and more. Brody is just right: not too much, not too little, well balanced, impeccably sourced notes, and most important: she's a delicious writer.

Also important, this book goes a long way toward setting straight many of the slurs and biases reported in other Mitfordiana (so to speak). Finest kind.

4 people found this helpful

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Jenna Z.

Portrait of a Passionate Woman

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 2, 2013

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To me, Jessica Mitford was a "lost woman" in our culture and Brody does a stellar job of bringing her to life. Her rebellion against a family divided by fascist leanings was dramatic and passionate, and left me rooting for Jessica (aka Decca) all the way. Brody also creates a historical context for the political waters that attracted Decca and the courage it took to swim in them. I found "Irrepressible" to be gracefully written by someone who is at ease with her subject matter and a masterful storyteller. I recommend it to anyone interested in women, WWII and its aftermath and American history.

3 people found this helpful

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Alisa S.

This book lives up to its subject!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 6, 2010

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...which is a tall order! Jessica Mitford lived in tempestuous times, and did and saw so much; Leslie Brody's book captures the spirit not only of the Spanish Civil War, the early days of the Communist Party in America, and the civil rights struggle, but also Mitford's state of mind and decisions. Why would a fun-loving, principled activist stay in the party during the Stalin era? This book doesn't just explain why, it shows why, without ever preaching or overstating. It also reads like a novel, and isn't afraid to be witty and funny.

7 people found this helpful

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Amy D.

A Disappointment

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 23, 2010

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I had been eagerly anticipating this book for months and find myself sorely disappointed. Too much summarization and glossing over details. Inferior to Mary Lovell's and Anne de Courcy's bios.

9 people found this helpful

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Meredith Whitford

Very disappointing

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 10, 2011

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Brody has been content to skim the surface of the many secondary resources, and without any real research this bio is a great disappointment and a bad book. There is not nearly enough historical or political background, and Brody makes errors and misapprehensions throughout the book. Her prose is flat, and she seems bored with her subject. A horribly disappointing effort.

6 people found this helpful

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Decca's Remarkable Life

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 7, 2021

Jessica Mitford was one of the most remarkable and original writers of the twentieth century. The product of a noble English family with ancient antecedents, she rebelled against that family and its values all her life. She ran away with a cousin whom she married, had a daughter by, and then lost in World War II. She then remarried an American Jewish lawyer with whom she had two sons and a long mostly happy marriage. Today she is principally remembered for her very amusing memoirs Daughters and Rebels and A Fine Old Conflict as well as a long series of investigative articles and books, most importantly The American Way of Death, Kind And Usual Punishment, and Poison Penmanship: The Making of a Muckraker.

Jessica Mitford (Decca to her friends) was one of the people I would most dearly love to have met. I won't be able to in this life, but Leslie Brody's biography does tell me a lot more about her and helps me to appreciate her even more. Brody's biography isn't as amusing as Mitford's own memoirs, but it's more informative on some aspects, such as the death of Mitford's son Nicky Treuhaft, which she couldn't bring herself to mention at all.

While Brody's biography leaves something to be desired in spots (she really should have done some research on British titles before attempting to write about Mitford's parentage and early milieu), nevertheless this is a good overall view of a very remarkable person.

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Irrepressible: The Life and Times of Jessica Mitford Hardcover – October 1, 2010

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