Jessica Mitford — The American Way of Death with Mimi Pond - Lost Ladies of Lit

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In this follow-up to our 2021 episode on Nancy Mitford, we’re turning the spotlight on her younger sister, Jessica (a.k.a. “Decca”) Mitford, an activist and journalist whom Time magazine called “the queen of the muckrakers.” Her influential 1963 nonfiction title The American Way of Death exposed corruption in the funeral industry and was lauded by David Bowie as one of his “Top 100” favorite books, whereas her 1960 childhood memoir, Hons and Rebels, left her own family seeing red! Joining us in conversation is Mimi Pond, whose recently-published graphic biography Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me adds new color (literally) to the Mitford mythology with wry commentary and artwork perfectly suited to England’s most outrageous debutantes.

Mentioned in this episode:

Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Meby Mimi Pond

Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford

The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford

David Bowie’s Top 100 Favorite Books

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

Life in A Cold Climate by Laura Thompson

Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford edited by Peter Y. Sussman

Lifeitselfmanship: Or, How to Become a Precisely Because Manby Jessica Mitford

Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No 39 on Nancy Mitford

Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 65 on Lucia Berlin

Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 187 on Kay Boyle