henrygravesprince's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
Major highlights include the four total “funeral” pieces, “You-All and Non-You-All”, and “Don’t Call It Syphillis”. My favourite, however, is “A Talk with George Jackson”. Low-lights are “Maine Chance Diary”, the two “Sign of the Dove” pieces, and “Egyptomania”. Overall, this was an incredibly informative, fascinating book, with a very charming style and author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Sexual assault
Moderate: Classism, Hate crime, Body shaming, and Racism
Minor: Gun violence, Misogyny, Grief, Racial slurs, and Fatphobia
in the piece “Trial by Headline”, Mitford refers to statutory rape as “by definition not assault”, which is not true broadly speaking; in context, she was speaking about a specific law and situation in which a 17 year old had consensual sex with another teenager but was charged regardless, but the way the statement was made was very unfortunate. I don’t think this was intentional victim blaming on her part, but I do think it’s worth warning for people who have trauma associated with it.vramosrosado's review
5.0
A wonderful book on the craft of investigative journalism. Jessica Mitford, a fascinating woman with an extraordinary life, demonstrates perfectly that the job of a journalist, or a muckraker, as she preferred to be called, doesn’t have to be a lifeless and boring amalgamation of facts and quotations. Her humor is top notch, as well as her hunger to tell stories that bring some sort of reckoning on topics that are frequently thought of as taboo, or even worse, too small for a journalist to cover. One of the best parts of the book is the commentary that accompanies most pieces where Mitford describes how she got the story, her investigation process, her failures along the way, and the aftermath of publication. All in all, a fantastic book that can teach young and old journalists new tricks and, above all, not to take themselves too seriously.
bronwynmb's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this, despite how long it took me to read. Some of the pieces are dated and uneven, some are really interesting, but the comments after each are really excellent even if the articles aren’t.
veethorn's review
5.0
Ahhhhhhhhh Jessica Mitford. A hilarious, brilliant collection of articles she published over a long career, along with her commentary on them. I’m desperately jealous of the students who got to take classes with her, and I wish I’d gotten to meet her and have tea. What a brilliant lady.
bronwynmb's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this, despite how long it took me to read. Some of the pieces are dated and uneven, some are really interesting, but the comments after each are really excellent even if the articles aren’t.
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