The Making of a Muckraker

by Jessica Mitford

“The Making of a Muckraker is worth dropping everything for; it should be read from beginning to end, without missing a glorious word, and never on any account lent to friends.” –Brian Masters, Books and Bookmen

Jessica Mitford, once called ‘Queen of the Muckrakers’ by Time, gives us a collection of her best articles including ‘Let Us Now Appraise Famous Writers,’ her near fatal attack on the Famous Writers school and ‘My Short and Happy Life as a Distinguished Professor,’ her war against fingerprinting by a Californian university. Her comments after each piece give an insight into the after-effects of each investigation. The introduction to the collection also serves as an excellent primer for reporting. Reporting, as she knows, is the best obtainable version of the truth. Then she shows us how to get there with grace, wit, cunning, style, imagination--and above all--a sense of enjoying the journey.

“My favorite Mitford blasts...are sharp and witty exercises in counter- malevolence” –Clancy Sigal, Listener

“Her best pieces are a delight because...Miss Mitford writes as she talks, with and enthusiasm for her subject.” --Robert Chesshyre, Observer.

Genres: Nonfiction, Journalism

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1979

About the author

Jessica Lucy Freeman-Mitford was an English author, journalist and political campaigner, who was one of the Mitford sisters. She gained American citizenship in later life.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved everything about this book. meticulously researched, ms. mitford's prose is always polite and always funny. she may be writing exposés, but she never forgets to have fun. more admirable still--her words actually do something while avoiding all sorts of moralizing. after nearly bankrupting a massive writing scam ("Let Us Now Appraise Famous Writers"), she takes on the california university system's practice of fingerprinting employees in "My Short and Happy Life as a Distinguished Professor." the book also contains "St. Peter Don't You Call Me" which served as the inspiration for her 1963 book The American Way of Death. other stand-outs include "Maine Chance Diary," "You-All and Non-You All," and a rare interview with george jackson.

[Margaret]

Making of Muckraker has almost exactly the same contents as Poison Penmanship: The Gentle Art of Muckraking except for a short Vogue piece contained in this edition. It's worth it to read as a Jessica Mitford completist, but Poison Penmanship is easier to find than Making of a Muckraker. Introductory and afterword material is different, but one version is sufficient to start off with baring any particular enthusiasm for Jessica Mitford.

[Anthony Majanlahti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fun. Mitford was a burr under the saddle of the establishment and must have been profoundly irritating to her targets. Particularly entertaining about the funeral industry (see The American Way of Death).

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fun book to read. Yes it is humorous, and touches on politics, but the gist of the book is to relate Jessica Mitford's various news or magazine articles written to expose "wrongs". Her writing is delightful.
I had heard of the Mitford sisters, but knew nothing about them, so when I found this book on a bargain rack I picked it up.
She writes about all of these issues:
Trial By Headline: exposes the danger of naming a person going into trial, who may in fact be innocent, and how their life will be ruined regardless of being found innocent.
The funeral industry and how it preys on bereaved people which results in them spending much more money for a funeral than it should.
A trip through Kentucky and Georgia where she was accepted by the country-club gentry until she began questioning their racism - some subtle and some not so; I found this chapter particularly amusing.
A fancy, expensive health spa and how it plays with the minds of its wealthy clients
A scheme where famous writers endorsed a writing correspondence school which - although supposed to give an honest critique of your potential writing aptitude - did not do so, but rather told ALL applicants they had talent and took a lot of money from untalented hopefuls. This chapter made me angry.
Her tangle with a college which insisted she be fingerprinted before she could teach a writing class; she took them to court (even while teaching the class) and won. Her students were on her side, this being a class in "how to muckrake".
A fraud perpetrated against a series of lawyers who lost only small sums of money ($35) but the sheer number of lawyers caught up in this scheme, in which they were reluctant to reveal to anyone they had been taken in... The perpetrator knew an awful lot about cases these lawyers were working on, but was never identified.
The archaeological dig frenzy in Egypt, and whether it is good or bad for Egypt and its people.
There is a lot to take in, and I loved it all.
First published in 1979, but these events, I believe, took place in the 1960's for the most part.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Jessica Mitford, and all of these pieces are excellent except the last, about Egypt. She admitted that she’s not that interested in the subject and it shows.