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Diana Mosley: A Life
 
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Diana Mosley: A Life (Paperback)
by Jan Dalley (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars 4 customer reviews (4 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
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Product details
  • Paperback: 308 pages
  • Publisher: Faber and Faber; New Ed edition (18 Sep 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0571203515
  • ISBN-13: 978-0571203512
  • Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.4 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 89,217 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
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  • Other Editions: Hardcover  |  All Editions

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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Diana Mosley was born Diana Freeman-Mitford, the fourth child of the famously eccentric Lord Redesdale and perhaps the most intellectually brilliant of all the mad, marvellous Mitford sisters. Along with intellect, she was also beautiful, glamorous and wealthy but she seemed to be prepared to sacrifice it all when she met and fell in love with Sir Oswald Mosley, the leader of British fascism. Jan Dalley offers us a fascinating portrait of a complex personality and an entire era in British history and is careful not to confuse Mosley's rather paternalistic, reactionary fascism with the genocidal and murderous variety that was Nazism. Unfortunately, Diana did rather admire Hitler too and has left flattering descriptions of, among other unlikely things, his sense of humour: His imitations of Mussolini were thought particularly droll. Other colourful characters revolve around the periphery of the story: Evelyn Waugh, Lord Berners, Bryan Guinness, the adorable Nancy Mitford. But it is Diana herself who commands our attention, with all her dark ambiguity and charm. --Christopher Hart --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Synopsis
A study of Diana Mosley, a member of the Mitford family, and wife of the most hated British politician of the 20th century. Diana Mosley risked her life of wealth and social position to follow fascism and its British leader Sir Oswald Mosely. A friend of Hitler and Goebbels, Diana Mosely was interred in Holloway in 1940.

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Customer Reviews
4 Reviews
5 star: 25%  (1)
4 star: 50%  (2)
3 star: 25%  (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A useful and entertaining biography of an elusive figure, 23 Aug 2000
While the first part of Jan Dalley's biography of Diana Mosley will be of interest mainly to readers who have not read any of the other "Mitford" books, the remainder of Dalley's book does shed light on the greater, and more interesting, part of Diana Mosley's life. I was especially pleased to be able to finally gain a better understanding of Lady Mosley's business dealings with the Nazis on behalf of the BUF. The portrayal of the complex relationship between Oswald Mosley and Diana, and the impact that their political beliefs had on their children and families was also an aspect of Diana's life that hasn't been given a full treatment until this book. It was also refreshing to realize that Ms. Dalley did not feel compelled to pass judgement on Lady Mosley's fascism in light of today's need for "political correctness". I think this book would be useful and entertaining to anyone interested int he political and social climate of the period between the wars.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Marvellous, 6 Nov 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Diana Mosley: A Life (Hardcover)
This is a marvellous book which made me miss my bus stop. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about the English upper class between the wars and the flirtation (in this case marriage) with fascism and anti semitism. I am now reading Unity's biography.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing read, 15 Jul 2000
By Laura A. Cella (NYC. NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Diana Mosley: A Life (Hardcover)
I became disenchanted with this book while reading the introduction where Dalley states that, although she interviewed Diana Mosley, she was not allowed to quote from any of Mosley's private papers and letters; therefore everything that she quoted came from previously published sources. "Great. Nothing new here," I thought and I was absolutely right.

Comprised almost entirely of recycled material, overall the book reads as a fawning Valentine to a woman of dubious character.

Probably because she couldn't quote from those private papers Dalley doesn't tell enough about the Mitfords private lives to enable the reader to really understand exactly how all of those children turned out the way they did. (Unity and Diana are the most. . .er, interesting of the group, but not by much.)

From her early escape-from-home marriage to the exceptionally rich Bryan Guinness to her peripatetic lifestyle with Mosley after imprisonment, Diana seems shallow, self-serving, self-centered, frivolous, and not nearly as intellectual as Dalley claims. Dalley insists that Diana was terribly spohisticated and bright, yet because we have only a few stories about sparkling parties and clever friends and precious few actual examples of Diana's speaking or writing to judge by, the reader remains unconvinced.

Dalley also appears less than objective about her subject: she sees Diana's personal attributes in the nicest possible light, refusing to believe that other, less flattering, conclusions can be drawn by the presented evidence. For instance, Dalley insists that Diana's request to her arresting officers that she be permitted to stop at a chemist to purchase a breast pump on her way to jail proves that Diana is a good parent, yet she skims over the telling fact that in late years the Mosleys travelled throughout the year, often leaving their children behind with schoolmasters, hired help, or, in the case of Max at the age of thirteen, no supervision whatsoever.

As written, Diana seems to have no objectivity toward herself and her own actions. Dalley quotes Diana toward the end of her life complaining that her two children from Mosley, Alexander and Max, grew up troubled because she was put in jail while they were toddlers strictly for "marrying Oswald". While this undoubtedly contributed to their problems, she leaves out the fact that her close personal friendship with Adolf Hitler, in addition to her marriage to leader of the British Union of Fascists, might have contributed to her jailing. Indeed, Dalley's minor theme appears to be that Diana was a clever, but unfocused woman until the evil Oswald Mosley entered her life, going so far as to imply that Diana was persuing her relationship with Hitler strictly to further Mosley's ties to European Fascists.

Addistionally, after telling the reader (but offering little evidence)that Diana's children grew up troubled, we never find out what happened to any of them.

Nicholas Mosley's two books about his parents lives and loves offer a far more objective view on all of them.

I wish I'd taken this out of the library rather than bought it. I hoped for much more than I got.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Clear Information on Controversial Topics
Includes the information that Hitler thought Mosley's use of the term 'Fascist' for his party was unwise, recognising that it did not ring for the English. Read more
Published on 1 Nov 2003 by wheaterj

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