Just finished reading Wigs On The Green by Nancy Mitford. It's a satire of British fascism in the 1930's, inspired by the real-life political exploits of Mitford's sisters Diana and Unity, who were both enamored of the movement. Unity actually traveled to Germany and managed to insinuate herself into Hitler's inner circle for a time, while Diana spent most of World War II in a British prison because her involvement with fascism was deemed to be a public danger. The sisters were definitely not amused with Nancy's book, and for many years it remained out of print.
The book is a fun, light read with a lot of farcical elements such as a runaway bride, a ditzy married woman with elaborate romantic fantasies, and a pair of fortune-hunting pals who are determined to marry gorgeous young heiresses. All of these elements come together in a small English town where Eugenia, a rich young heiress, is busy promoting "Social Unionism," a movement aimed at restoring the glory of England by getting rid of foreign influences and crushing pacifism in all its forms. She seems to be the only character who really takes the movement seriously. Everyone else joins up without really giving it a lot of thought. It just seems to be the thing to do (and in the case of the fortune-hunting buddies, they do it just to impress Eugenia). Everything culminates in a disastrous Social Unionist pageant that turns into a bloody fight between the "Union Jackshirts" who represent the movement and a group of local pacifists who resent the disruption they've caused in the town.
The light treatment of fascism can be off-putting, as it seems that Mitford is more interested in having fun with the more absurd aspects of the movement than in dealing with its real dangers. Then again, when she wrote the book in 1934 she had no way of knowing how the movement would turn so ugly. All in all, it was a pretty good book with a few funny bits. I'd like to read more of her books.
