Nancy Mitford was the eldest and most famous of the Mitfords. However, before she shot to fame as a novelist with The Pursuit of Love, she had gathered a huge following with articles pouring drops of acid on the pretensions of the aristocracy. A relentless tease, she wrote brilliant sharp-tongued articles, first for the Lady Magazine owned by her uncle, and then soon thereafter for House & Garden, Vogue, The Times, Sunday Times, New Statesman, Spectator, New York Review of Books and the Atlantic Monthly in the US, as well as other publications. A first small selection of her articles appeared in The Water Beetle (1962), followed in 1986 by a larger selection of recent writings up to 1968. collection of Nancy Mitford's entire career. It aims to establish her as one of the first female journalists with a superb command of stylish invective whose anarchic streak has made her writings pass the test of time with effortless ease.