Rules of the Game: Sir Oswald and Lady Cynthia Mosley, 1896-1933

by Nicholas Mosley

Book Overview

Once known as the most hated man in England, Sir Oswald Mosley (1896-1980) is an intriguing and infamous figure in British politics. Rich and aristocratic, Mosley began his political career within the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0436288494
• ISBN13: 9780436288494
• Release Date: January 1982
• Publisher: Secker & Warburg
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Mosley Re-invented

Nicholas Mosley attempted to write an objective biography of his father, who occupies an unusual place in British history. While skating over some of the odious aspects of his father's history, he nevertheless succeeded in displeasing his father's widow, Diana Mitford Mosley who would settle for nothing less than a completely laudatory biography. It's ironic. It's true Mosley made some correct predictions about the world and what would happen to the British empire in a postwar world. Basically his position was that England should make common cause with the Fascists because their innate superiority gave them the right to maintain their empire, even if other people didn't want to be subjected to English (or German) rule. Upper class British anti-semitism, which was no secret, was also shared by Mosley and those in his circle. To this day, many of them remain Holocaust-deniers. As Nancy Mitford pointed out, the Jews feared the Nazis so many made common cause with the communists and the British upper classes feared the communists, who might strip them of all their wealth and prerogatives, so many made common cause with Fascists. If anyone felt entitled to wealth and privilege, it was the British titled classes. As a human being, Mosley was also notorious as a womanizer, and his treatment of women and his own children totally reflected his own narcissism. One interesting aspect of the Mosley biography by his son was the love and admiration he felt for his mother, who he felt had not been treated right by historical accounts and by her own husband. Read other books by and about the Mitfords and the Mosleys. Should Diana and Oswald Mosley have been imprisoned as potential collaborators? That's another question. In the event of a German defeat of England, would Mosley have become another Petain? Probably, but who knows? Meanwhile, these books are worth reading as both history and cautionary tales. Every country has its demagogues. Demagogues are often very attractive and Mosley certainly was.

Here Is a Treasury of Information On Sir Oswald Mosley.

Here is a book that will please anyone looking for an extraordinary biography. I would also advise you to buy this book before it goes out of print. Nearly anything ever written about Mosley eventually gets sold out because there is usually a lot more interest in him than publishers forecast. Many Americans know that Mosley was the most prominent British fascist leader prior to the Second World War, but few know that prior to that he was the member of parliament who was given the task of constructing an economic plan capable of getting Britain out of the Great Depression. Although many leading socialists of the day supported his ideas, including his personal friend in America, Franklin Roosevelt, the British government was not bold enough to act, adopting the attitude of just muddling through. That's why Mosley started up his fascist movement. The death of Mosley's first wife contributed to his determination to implement his ideas, and the private correspondence published in this book explains why for the first time. After World War 2, Mosley's view was that the nationalisms of Europe were obsolete, and that the European economic cooperation of the EEC was the first wave of a better future. He also forecasted that within the United States the European population would find a similar reorganizing just as necessary.

The Inside story by Mosley's Liberal Son

How very difficult it must have been for a respected and successful establishment liberal to provide a balanced assessment of his own father, the founder of British Fascism, but Nicolas Mosley accomplishes this feat superbly. Fascism is obsolete of course, but there had to have been some wonderful quality in Oswald Mosley's own character as well, because shortly before his death he turned over all his personal papers - not to more conservative members of the family - but to Nicholas, his ideological opposition. Read this one for sure, for these are the revelations of a family tormented - yet never completely divided - by the world conflict which pulled at their souls.