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• Longlisted for the 2026 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award
• Longlisted for 2025 National Book Critics Circle Award
• A Boston Globe “Best Books of 2025”
• A New York Times “Books We Love,” Editor’s Choice
• A Town & Country “Best Book” for November
• A Bloomberg “Ten Best” books of November

“A perceptive, sympathetic biography of activist, unabashed communist, and muckraker Jessica Mitford. Kaplan captures Decca’s energy and verve, her complicated relationship with her aristocratic family, and her unwavering devotion to fighting injustice, racism, and inequality. A brisk, engaging biography.” Kirkus Reviews

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Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford

Fifth of the six famous Mitford Girls, Jessica Mitford—known as Decca—was a British aristocrat-turned-American Communist, famous for exposés like The American Way of Death; this biography brings her astonishing self-transformation to life with a riveting, often hilarious account of trading wealth and status for a life of radical activism. More…

More praise for Troublemaker

“[D]oggedly researched and resolutely modern…. [A] template for would-be allies in social justice movements that have intensified since… Troublemaker is a repository of astounding resourcefulness; a detailed curriculum vitae; a crack against the soft rump of the modern screen-addled slacker.” The New York Times

“Kaplan has written the most well-researched biography of Jessica Mitford to date. She is also, refreshingly, less interested in her as one of the infamous Mitford girls than as a pioneering advocate for what we now call “social justice.” The result is a book that … pays Decca the real compliment of treating her as a public intellectual.” The Times of London

“The most significant contribution [to recent Mitford projects] is ‘Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford’… Kaplan is devoted to Decca alone, and to separating her crusading accomplishments from the sins of the flock… It is, as Kaplan notes, an apt time for such a book to emerge.” The New Yorker

“Gripping.” Los Angeles Times

“Kaplan captures the subversiveness and strength of the woman who rejected fascism and overcame personal tragedy… [a] well-researched and unashamedly partisan account.” Financial Times

“As Kaplan shows, Decca found her legacy in the light: in her ebullient personality, her fight for social justice, the delight she took in her triumphs, and her deep connection with other people.” Air Mail

“Can there really be any point in yet another fat book about one of the Mitford sisters? …. Carla Kaplan’s exhaustively researched and thorough account of Jessica…comes as a welcome relief…. To the end of her life, Decca had the daunting blue gaze, pure upper-class accent and ruthless, exploitative charm of a true Mitford. Kaplan’s account is solid, even-handed and, in the end, impressive. It confirms the fact that Decca was surely the only one of all the Mitfords worth taking seriously.” Anne Chisholm in The Spectator

“Beautifully written, utterly transporting, and [made] relentlessly vivid by the recovery of amazing circumstances and astonishing human relationships, Carla Kaplan’s remarkable biography of Jessica Mitford is a journey through the many social and political worlds contained in a single family, from British feudal aristocracy and pro-Hitler fascist enthusiasm to the American Civil Rights Movement and card-carrying American Communism. This captivating story—empathetic and yet clear-eyed—of a fascinating woman, her sisters, and their lives in the twentieth century is a breathtaking and singular achievement.” Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-8), author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy

“Marvelous, enchanting, and hilarious. Carla Kaplan has triumphed, bringing to life the delightful odyssey of Jessica ‘Decca’ Mitford. An inspiring biography by a master biographer.” Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography in New York City

“Of the legendary Mitford sisters, novelist Nancy got the coverage, Duchess Debo got the glamour, fascist Diana and Hitler-loving Unity got the notoriety, but it was Decca who really made a difference in the world. Always on the front lines of history—fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War, dodging subpoenas from HUAC, writing lacerating investigative journalism—Decca was a warrior for justice who never forgot to laugh at herself. And Carla Kaplan’s compassionate, enthralling, and aptly titled Troublemaker is a fitting celebration of this extraordinary woman.” Amanda Vaill, author of Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution

“Carla Kaplan unveils a unique angle of ‘good trouble’ and civil rights allyship, told with the drama and humor of Mitford’s unique personality.” Tamara Payne, Pulitzer Prize-winning coauthor of The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X

“Carla Kaplan writes with the flair of a novelist and backs it up with relentless research and keen insight. As infectious, stylish, and hard-hitting as its subject, Troublemaker is the marriage of a fascinating, timely story and a wonderful storyteller. An absolute treasure.” Jonathan Eig, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for King: A Life

“A remarkable book about a remarkable woman. If you don’t know a lot about Mitford (and her exceptionally weird family), you’re in for a treat. If you think you already know a lot about her, think again: you’re in for a bracing helping of shock and awe. Because Kaplan’s research is so impressively deep, and her prose so pleasingly fleet, her complicated and compelling subject now has the biography she has long deserved.” Daniel Okrent, author of Last Call and The Guarded Gate