Customer Reviews

To Marry an English Lord or, How Anglomania Really Got Started

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"To Marry An English Lord" may sound like a how-to guide, but it is really one of the most fascinating history books on the English Peerage ever written. This book specifically follows the migration of rich American girls to England and, subsequently, to marrying a member of the English peerage. It also reveals life in both England and America at the dawn of the 20th century. This book contains the most fascinating and seldom-explored facts from the period, and really takes an in-depth look at the everyday lives of the privileged during the Gilded Age. If for nothing else, buy this book for the pictures! With cartoons, photographs, maps and paintings, you get a visual guide to the period. This book is so well organized that practically every page gives you detailed information on a specific subject, and a picture to illustrate it. Most pages also have small factoids that are some of the best parts of the book. Certainly the best part of the book is how it follows a few American heiresses throughout the book, which really makes you care about the 'characters' and gives you the full story: from start to finish. If you love Victorian/Edwardian history, or the English Peerage, you will absolutely love this book. I refer to it almost once a week and enjoy re-reading it whenever I have some spare time!

Those few of us who have wondered why in the world a comfortable, cosseted American girl would want to marry an Englishman and live in a cold climate in an even colder stone castle will find answers here, even if the answers aren't satisfactory to the modern ear.

Think of it: wealthy American society girls, products of generations of men and women who gave lives and fortunes to escape a Royalist society, thought it a worthy investment of their lives, loves and wealth to buy an English title in the form of a husband. It's understandable that men who have no money and are saddled with huge estates and titles with no way to support themselves "in the manner to which they have become accustomed" would search out these women. It's another matter to understand the women, especially if they were bright and energetic (like the fabled Jenny Jerome).

Of course the first women to get involved in this weird method of social climbing didn't realize what was involved. (Though why American society decided that an English title was important in the United States, especially if it could be bought with money, still escapes me.) The problems included loveless husbands who paid little attention to their wives and carried on affairs; cold and drafty castles into which Papa sank tons of money to no avail as far as comfort was concerned; families who refused to accept them in spite (or because) of the fact that they provided the money to keep the lifestyle intact; servants who often were sulky and rebellious ("but we've ALWAYS done it that way"); children they handed over to nannies. The first brides must have kept the hardships and loneliness from the succeeding generation, for the rage for English titles prevailed from the mid-19th century almost through the mid-20th century.

TO MARRY AN ENGLISH LORD is a fascinating and complete look at these women and the lives they led. Illustrations showing the homes and households of the times and how they operated, fashions, maps, photographs of the women and their friends, families and husbands all combine to present the core of that particular section of society in that particular age.

The book is meticulously researched and includes a bibliography, a register of American heiresses, a suggested walking tour of the women's London and a very handy index. It's built around the stories of these women and the men who wooed and won them. Who they were, what they did and what the consequences were -- all adds up to an intriguing and fascinating read.

Yes, it's an interesting subject but, in my opinion, merely a vehicle for much more interesting information written in a highly readable style with great wit. I've never before come across such a clear comparison between attitude and lifestyles of American and English high society during the Victorian era. I had also never realized how much Queen Victoria's strictness had been diluted by her heir. And I have certainly never seen so many interesting illustrations of the era in one book before - jewels, fashion and architecture with descriptions and explanations. By no means definitive or comprehensive, and not pretending to be, this books offers a wealth of detail which brings the entire period into much sharper focus and is by no means limited to the subject matter referred to in the title.

If you have ever imagined yourself married to a duke or even just an earl, this is the book for you! It's wonderful. Jarret does a fantastic job inter-weaving the true stories of America's dollar princesses and the general how-to's of marrying into nobility.

As a professional historian, I was impressed by the research which Jarrett put into the book (I can't help but wonder if it began life as a dissertation---if so, Jarrett did a great job making her subject accessible to general readers).

This nonfiction work offers a a variety of informative, interesting details that brings a moment in history to life. Though not exhaustive, it certainly covers this ironic phenomenon in enough detail to satiate the reader's apetite. Most importantly, there are so many insights into the social workings of both the American upper-class and the British aristocracy that it works as an excellent reference for any Anglophile, history-phile, etc.

This book takes an often tongue-in-cheek look at alliances between American women seeking respectability marrying English noblemen seeking cash. The tone of the book is fun and sometimes gossipy, but don't be fooled. The background material on the history of England and America in the late Nineteenth century is worth the price of the book alone.

A simply fascinating book.

Even if you're not a fan of Edith Wharton or Henry James novels, there is something for everyone in this book. Almost of all of the book is about American and English society during the Victorian period. The authors went out of their way to make the vast amount of material easy to read and very entertaining.

The differences in the upper class of both countries are contrasted in life styles, art, architecture, travel, marriage and courting customs.

This book is wonderfully presented with sidebar articles, minibiographies, drawings and photographs. It was a pleasure to read.

I picked up this book after a trip to Newport, RI. I wanted to know more about the people who built the enormous summer "cottages" by the sea. This book told me all I wanted to know and more. There are bits about most of the "Dollar Princesses" who travelled to England and married into the nobility. The decriptions are vivid and entertaining. Afterward, read The Vanderbilt Women and some of Edith Wharton's novels. Better yet, go to Newport and see where they spent the summer.

Every time I picked this book up--just to browse for a few minutes--I found myself pulled in to the story of all of those girls and their families, and the men they were after, who were also after them, to the point where I'd have to force myself to put the book down when it was time to do something else. The book is a light read, with lots of side-boxes explaining everything from the background of a Worth gown, to calling card etiquette, to the cost of running an English country estate. I have bought dozens of books from Amazon and have never felt compelled to write a review before. This book gets my 100% endorsement.

Every time I read this book it becomes more and more interesting. Meticulously researched, with great little anecdotes and etiquette tips.
This book is a lot of fun! I especially liked the many photographs of the designer gowns (most by Worth, if you please!) that are liberally scattered throughout.
If you're ananglophile you'll want to get this one!