Overview

Judy Montagu spent her late teenage years and early twenties directing anti-aircraft defences during the Second World War as a Captain in Gunnery for the British Army. Demobilised in 1946, she set out in search of fun and freedom in America and found herself swept into a bright and glamorous social circle. She soon counted Joe Alsop and the Cushing Sisters among her new friends and even began to consider becoming a US citizen. In 1949, determined to understand America more deeply, Judy embarked on a three-month tour of the country by Greyhound bus. Letters of introduction opened doors to a range of encounters, capturing an extraordinary moment at the height of the Anglo-American alliance. At each stop, Judy met newspaper editors, political leaders, and celebrities. In Texas – where she rode in a rodeo – she was the guest of Jesse H. Jones in Houston and Amon Carter in Fort Worth. In Hollywood, she had tea with Mary Pickford, and by the time she reached Illinois, her final state, she met and fell in love with Adlai Stevenson. As a cousin of Clementine Churchill, Judy’s travels attracted regular press attention, adding another dimension to the diary. The Greyhound Diary, edited by Judy’s daughter Anna Mathias, is written in a snappy, well-paced style that reveals Judy Montagu’s fascination with people and politics. She is generally generous in her portraits of fellow travellers, while offering a more caustic, often witty, take on her grander hosts.

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9781739821272

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Reviews

‘I hugely enjoyed The Greyhound Diary. Judy Montagu writes with a wit and fluency that not only brings her attractive character alive but also conjures up the sights and smells and manners of the southern states of America as they existed nearly eighty years ago. Superbly edited by Anna Mathias, this fascinating and original book is a gem for anyone who enjoys diaries, travel writing, and social history.’—Robert Harris 'I absolutely loved it.  What a pleasure to be reunited with Judy Montagu!'—Anne Glenconner 'Judy had such charm. More than anything else I wanted her friendship'.—Antonia Fraser ‘The Greyhound Diary is a real-life time capsule of a forgotten America, high and low, in the years after World War II - a coast-to-coast adventure with a shrewd young Englishwoman who comes with letters of introduction, tries everything, and writes with candor and verve’.—Cullen Murphy

Author Information

Judy Montagu (1923–1972) was the latest in a long line of spirited, independent-minded aristocratic women. During the Second World War, she served with distinction in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. A frequent visitor to the United States, she returned often in the post-war years, and in 1962 married the American photographer and art critic Milton Gendel. The couple settled in Rome, where they raised their daughter, Anna Mathias - the editor of these diaries. Anna Mathias is a retired teacher of Art History and Critical Thinking who worked at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. She has contributed obituaries and reviews for The Art Newspaper.

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