Diana Mosley: A biography of the glamorous Mitford sister who became Hitler's friend and married the leader of Britain's fascists

By Jan Dalley

Book Overview

Much has been written about and by the Mitford sisters, who variously dazzled and shocked their contemporaries in England and abroad: Nancy, as a celebrated novelist ( The Pursuit of Love ); Deborah,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394587367
• ISBN13: 9780394587363
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.7" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Diana Mosley

Excellent in detail of Diana (Mitford) Mosley and her husband, also her family, and occurrences in Hitler's Germany.

Not Meant To Justify Fascism, But Does Tell Story Of A Fascist

I disagree with the reviews that complain that the subject is not atacked for her political views. It is a obvious that anyone tied who can be directly tied to this view during this period and is established as an anti-semite is morally reprehensible. The author does not and should not even try to attack those views as that is not the purpose of the book. The purpose is to follow the journey of Mosley from aristocratic child to spouse of an anti-Semitic fascist leader and beyond. As to post-war discussions, of course, any normal person would be disgusted by much of Mosley's conduct. Still, that is part of the story. As is obvious, this is one of those biographies devoted to the life of someone who one might assume to be a secondary or even a minor, if any, influence on history. As the wife of the leader of the consolidated fascist union in the years proceeding world war two, one might view Diana Mosley as someone simply in the shadow of her husband. The author surprised me with an extremely well written insight into the significant role of this woman, not in relationship to others, but as to her conduct and accomplishments, for right or wrong, throughout her life. Instead of explaining her in the context of other people, the author discusses events and other people in the context of Mosley. As pointed out above, this book goes against the usual approach of biographies of "secondary" personalities on the world stage. I have frequently found such books give very little attention to the person's life before whatever significant event or events they are tied to. Here the author not only explores Mosley's childhood in depth, but also all the member of her immediate family. Far more impressively, the author somehow manages to seamlessly maintain the family backdrop throughout Mosley's life. To me, I greatly appreciate a book that has, for lack of a better term, an even approach throughout. I do not care for books, particularly biographies, that start almost abruptly with a short chapter on childhood, then devotes the huge majority on the primary issues of history involved, and finally again almost abruptly ends with a short chapter about death and/or retirement. The greatest strength of this book in my humble opinion is that common flaw is absent here. Finally, the author had took an unusual approach to her sources, both primary and secondary. She relied a great deal on books written by Mosley's sisters and other contemporaries. Likewise, she also relied a great deal on information she acquired directly from Mosley. An academic might have some problems with her approach, as she did not bury the manuscript in footnotes, but it is effective. Where relevant, the author simply cites the materials as the basis of the information in the text. This approach is perhaps a result of the author being a journalist and not an historian. However, that certainly should not be held against her, as William Shirer has demonstrated. Again, I do no

Celebrity Bio of British Fascist

In the years preceding the second World War, Diana Mitford left her wealthy young husband, with whom she had two small children, to take up with Sir Oswald Mosley, the maximum leader of the British Fascist party. She found him and his cause far more exciting and engrossing than the regular upper-class art and society crowd she had previously ornamented, which was populated with dreary "parlour pinks". Now she split her time between a love nest in London and Berlin, where she and her sister Unity spent their days sucking up to Hitler and his inner circle. Diana tried to get Hitler to cough up money for Mosley. Mosley himself concentrated more successfully on Musselini, who did indeed secretly provide funds for the care and feeding of British brownshirts.At some point Mosley's wife (yes, he was married too, and on his second marriage) conveniently died. Mosley was faced with a dilemna. Should he marry Diana? Or his other lover, his dead wife's sister. I guess he procrastinated as long as he could, until finally sweeping Diana off her feet for the ultimate in romantic weddings. A small gathering in Nazi Germany: just the happy couple, the Goebbels and, of course, Adolf Hitler. Then they returned to England to continue the good fight at home.Not surprisingly, when was broke out, Diana and her knight in shining armor were incarcerated. The Mosleys' regarded this as dreadfully unfair, since he had given lip service to patriotic concerns by announcing that his brownshirts should join up. The Mosleys' regarded their captors as foolish and dim. But it was clear to even the dullest mind that Mosley would be Hitler's man in England if the was started going poorly, and if Mosley had his way compromise with Hitler would be the next step in the war.After the war the Mosleys' returned to a much quieter lifestyle--raising some of the numerous children they had spawned in their various marriages (those that they were allowed custody of) to become good fascists. They eventually turned their energies to the Neo Nazi movement in England, and Diana used her keen mind to help these thugs, bigots and nuts try to mask their vicious, malignant motives with pseudo-intectual political sophistry.The book is very informative and interesting, but disturbing. The author points out how inconsistent and appalling some of the political philosophy Diana embraced was, most notably with respect to anti-semitism. But the author does not seem to challenge some of their more dreadful sophistries: such as the popular neo-nazi notion that the Jews would not actually have been GASSED if England hadn't come into the war. (with its corollary that England and those other mean countries wouldn't have picked on poor Germany if those nasty Jews hadn't made such a fuss about being persecuted, beated, robbed and murdered!) The author at times seems to be writing a standard Society bio, full of cameos of the rich and famous, and boasts of their devotion to Diana. The author also seems quite s

Intriguing and horrifying

It is difficult for most people living at the beginning of the twenty first century to understand the attraction Adolf Hitler had for intelligent, civilized people. "Diana Mosley" helps us understand by telling the story of an upper class English couple who were seduced by Hitler's charm. It's too easy to dismiss potential fuhrers and duces and their followers as marginal, uninvolved, and uninteresting people. We need to be reminded, as "Diana Mosley" does, that anyone from anywhere can be entranced by evil.

Another Mitford Rebel

Diana, Lady Mosley, though perhaps not as well-known in the US as her sisters, writers Jessica Mitford (_The American Way of Death_) and Nancy Mitford (_Love in a Cold Climate_ and _The Pursuit of Love_), is a notorious figure in her own right. Marriage at eighteen to brewery heir Bryan Guinness thrust Diana into the limelight; she quickly established herself as one of the 'bright young things' who dominated the London social whirl. She knew everyone from Evelyn Waugh (his book _Vile Bodies_ is dedicated to Diana and Bryan) to Lytton Strachey of Bloomsbury fame, and became the very image of a glittering social hostess. I say 'image' because only a few years into her marriage Diana was swept off her feet by Oswald Mosley, a promising politician and successful lady-killer whose motto was 'vote Labour; sleep Tory.' Diana was later to claim that meeting Mosley, her 'kindred spirit,' had made her realize how empty her life was, how intellectually unsatisfying.Leaving her husband and two young sons and living openly as the married Mosley's mistress, Diana soon became a convert to his political philosophy, which by this time had ripened into fascism. Mosley, the founder of the British Union of Fascists, was an unlikely populist, retaining, like Diana, all the trappings of aristocratic life.During the years before she finally married Mosley Diana spent much of her time in Germany. Partly to further Mosley's career, Diana established herself in Hitler's inner circle. Her younger sister Unity, a rabid Hitler groupie, was to attempt suicide after the declaration of war between Britain and Germany, but Diana was more hard-headed than Unity, for whom Hitler and fascism were twin passions. Diana's intellectual acceptance of the fascist philosophy seems much more shocking by comparison, signifying a cold-blooded determination to minimize or deny the 'tricky bits,' as she was later to call them.After the declaration of war, Diana and Mosley, now married and parents of two baby boys, were imprisoned at the direction of Winston Churchill, Prime Minister and Mitford relation. Diana and Mosley saw this as a vindictive and senseless act, but they were locked away for nearly four years nonetheless, emerging into a world in which they had no real place any more.Most of Jan Dalley's _Diana Mosley_ concerns the tumultuous years I have briefly summarized. Dalley, although considered too uncritical of Diana by a number of reviewers, provides a balanced account of Diana's life and times. In a very real sense, allowing the unrepentant Diana to speak for herself serves to underscore both the moral bankrupcy of fascism and the 'banality of evil,' as Hannah Arendt termed it.