Unity Mitford was born to sensation. She joined the British Union of Fascists, moved to Germany and seduced Hitler, charming her way into intimate friendships with the most prominent Nazis. However, when war came she was ordered home to England by Hilter himself. This is her story.
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About the Author
David Pryce-Jones is the author of many works of non-fiction, including The Closed Circle and Paris in the Third Reich. He has also written nine novels, of which Inheritance is his most recent.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After having read several of Charlotte Moseley's anthologies of the Mitfords letters and personal writings I was intrigued to read this book about possibly the least sympathetic of the Mitford sisters, Unity.
Unity, an acknowledged difficult child, who grew up to be a difficult woman who decided to break away from her family by embracing fascism, and Hitler worship in particular, and who shot herself in the head at the outbreak of WWII, leading to years of ill health and an early death from meningitis, is a tricky character.
Hyde Price did not have the Mitford family's authorisation to write this book and it shows. He has interviewed many peripheral characters who flitted in and out of Unity's life, and this patchwork approach to the story is not very fulfilling. Quite often the people he interviews acknowledge that they didn't really know her very well, or do not remember certain times and events that clearly. Some of what they say is supposition, and much of what they say is common knowledge and already in the public domain.
Using this approach we get a random time line which consists of half remembered anecdotes, ill informed snippets and the most bland of diary entries detailing social events that Unity attended. There is little attempt to reach an in depth understanding of such a troubled character, and the author's continual need to ascertain whether Unity had sex with anyone seems rather morbid, given the fact that all the people he interviews are clear on the fact that Unity was not a sexual person at all. In fact this is one of the only things they agree on.
This is a sketchy volume which skims the years after her shooting woefully, and which seems to have been written for the sake of raking up salacious scandal, rather than with any real interest in such a fascinatingly complicated character. Hugely disappointing.
Unity, an acknowledged difficult child, who grew up to be a difficult woman who decided to break away from her family by embracing fascism, and Hitler worship in particular, and who shot herself in the head at the outbreak of WWII, leading to years of ill health and an early death from meningitis, is a tricky character.
Hyde Price did not have the Mitford family's authorisation to write this book and it shows. He has interviewed many peripheral characters who flitted in and out of Unity's life, and this patchwork approach to the story is not very fulfilling. Quite often the people he interviews acknowledge that they didn't really know her very well, or do not remember certain times and events that clearly. Some of what they say is supposition, and much of what they say is common knowledge and already in the public domain.
Using this approach we get a random time line which consists of half remembered anecdotes, ill informed snippets and the most bland of diary entries detailing social events that Unity attended. There is little attempt to reach an in depth understanding of such a troubled character, and the author's continual need to ascertain whether Unity had sex with anyone seems rather morbid, given the fact that all the people he interviews are clear on the fact that Unity was not a sexual person at all. In fact this is one of the only things they agree on.
This is a sketchy volume which skims the years after her shooting woefully, and which seems to have been written for the sake of raking up salacious scandal, rather than with any real interest in such a fascinatingly complicated character. Hugely disappointing.
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Horus
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Mitfords were a curious family and seemed to be a link between many of the famous people of the time, the great and the good- and not so good. They also illustrate vivdly the politics of the period too. Unity Mitford was strong headed and loyal once she found her cause. Her cause was Hitler. This book covers her life from her idylic childhood with her siblings, following it through to a tragic end when she died as a result of having shot herself when Hitler declared war on England. The book includes many personal interviews which colour the story all the more.The story draws in the reader and opens up other quests for infomation.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hitler's British groupie.
13 Oct 2011
By Ed Gehead
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Unity Mitford, born in 1914 into a dysfunctional aristocratic family, early on developed a rebellious personality and urge to impress by shocking conduct. So she was in 1932 when at the age of 18 she joined the British Union of Fascists and became an enthusiastic (without experiential basis) anti-semite. In 1933 she traveled with the BUF to a Nuremberg rally and, on hearing Hitler speak, was so struck that she moved to Munich to stalk him. Frequenting Hitler's favorite restaurant, she finally got his attention and a relationship began which gradually evolved until she was considered the British Eva Braun. Hitler was drawn to Unity by her admiration of him, by her aryan good looks, by her aristocratic British ancestry, and by her unbridled commitment to nazism. Their relationship grew into one of mutual (asexual) love, ending precipitously with Unity's attempted suicide in 1939 when Britain declared war on Germany for its invasion of Poland.
Revelatory is the disclosure that Hitler viewed his relationship with Unity (whom he undoubtedly loved) to be consistent with and useful in advancing his hope that Britain, a brother aryan nation, would not object to Germany's invasion of the slavic nations (particularly communist Russia) and would ultimately join Germany in a new world aryan order led by Germany. This was also Unity's hope and it was the dashing of this hope when Britain declared war on Germany that the author posits as the motive for Unity's suicide attempt. Maybe. I'm not convinced because Unity clearly had serious personality disorders with suicidal tendencies. Her politics were too superficial and shallow. More likely the motive for her attempted suicide was simply to carry out the final shocking act of her life's drama. (But don't feel any sympathy for Unity who displayed her cold heart when she went to an apartment given to her by Hitler and ignored the Jewish owners being forcefully evicted.)
I give this work less than 5 stars because too much of it is devoted to upper class name dropping which is probably titillating to Brits familiar with the rich and famous of the era, but a total bore to me.
Revelatory is the disclosure that Hitler viewed his relationship with Unity (whom he undoubtedly loved) to be consistent with and useful in advancing his hope that Britain, a brother aryan nation, would not object to Germany's invasion of the slavic nations (particularly communist Russia) and would ultimately join Germany in a new world aryan order led by Germany. This was also Unity's hope and it was the dashing of this hope when Britain declared war on Germany that the author posits as the motive for Unity's suicide attempt. Maybe. I'm not convinced because Unity clearly had serious personality disorders with suicidal tendencies. Her politics were too superficial and shallow. More likely the motive for her attempted suicide was simply to carry out the final shocking act of her life's drama. (But don't feel any sympathy for Unity who displayed her cold heart when she went to an apartment given to her by Hitler and ignored the Jewish owners being forcefully evicted.)
I give this work less than 5 stars because too much of it is devoted to upper class name dropping which is probably titillating to Brits familiar with the rich and famous of the era, but a total bore to me.
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