From: jclander@texas.mitre.org (Julian C. Lander)
Subject: The American Way of Birth
Followup-To: soc.motss
Reply-To: jclander@mitre.org (Julian C. Lander)
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean, Va
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 20:57:41 GMT

Well, Jessica Mitford has written a new book.  Does anyone else
remember The American Way of Death?  That was much better--
the excesses of funerals are fit subjects for humor and
light treatment; those of childbirth are not. So don't
rush out and buy this one--I did, and I'm sorry. (There's
not even anything you don't already know.  The stories,
like impersonal doctors doing too many Caesarians and
the lack of care for the poor, are not new.  Some 
discussion of midwifery is new, but not particularly
interesting; the battles are legal and involve the 
right to practice.)

And many of you are sitting here and wondering
why on earth I am reviewing a book on childbirth 
here in soc.motss.  No, I'm not posting here by
mistake, and I haven't gone mad.  Certainly women
will be interested in issues of childbirth, even
if only vicariously (so, for that matter are some
men, like me).  And for the men, especially a certain
type of man (Arne Adolphson seems, from his net persona,
to be one such), there is the fabulous fact that Jessica
is one of the famous Mitford sisters.

For those of you who think I'm referring to a Word War
II singing group, here is a quick review of the fabulous
Mitfords, with a reference to the one brother at the end
(for even more soc.motss relevance).  The Mitford girls
were born in the 1900's and 'teens to Lord and Lady 
Redesdale (I think he was a Baron).  There were five
of them.  In rough order of age, here is there story:

Nancy - A relatively famous English novelist of this century,
	she died in France in 1969. Much of her fiction 
	described her family life.  It is very light and
	charming, soft of a cross between E. F. Benson and
	Angela Thirkell, with a little more rapier wit.
	She later wrote history and biography.

Diana - Divorced her first husband, a Guinness (their 
	children wrote a biography of the family a few
	years ago--not very good).  Married Oswald Moseley,
	leader of the British Union(?) of Fascists, was 
	jailed during the Second World War.

Unity Valkyrie (sp?) - A fervent admirer of Hitler,
	she shot herself in the head on the day war
	was declared between Great Britain and Germany
	(September 3, 1939, I believe).  This was in
	Munich.  The wound did not prove fatal and she
	was reunited with her parents in (I think) 
	Scotland.  She lived with them, brain-damaged, 
	until her death in 1948.

Jessica (or Decca) - A socialist, she went off to
	work for the losing side in the Spanish
	Civil War.  Her first husband, E. Romilly,
	was a Communist, and died during WWII.  Her
	second husband is Bob Truehaft, an American.
	(The implied disjunction between Communists and
	Americans is not intentional.  I don't know much
	about Truehaft's politicts, and it is important
	that he is a citizen of the US.)  She has lived
	in California since the 1940's and worked as a
	muckraking journalist.  _The American Way of 
	Death_, published about 30 years ago, was a great
	hit.  _The American Way of Birth_, published recently,
	isn't.

Debo (Deborah?) - She married the heir to the Duke of Devonshire,
	and her husband eventually succeeded to the title. She
	is a very wealthy aristocrat (the Devonshires have money).

There was also a brother, Tom, who was killed during the (First
World) War in his late teens.  While in school (Eton?), he was
much taken with another young man there.  I've forgotten his
actual name, but let us assume that it was Hill. While out with
his family, they passed a sign for Wychwood-Under-Hill, and Tom
murmurred, "Oh, lucky Wychwood!"

All in all, a most remarkable family.  Particularly the daughters,
who range all over the map in both political conviction and intelligence
(Nancy was very sharp, Debo is rumored not to be particularly bright).

Julian C. Lander
jclander@mitre.org