An entertaining, gossipy look at the phenomenon of American heiresses marrying titled British aristocrats, which took place from the 1870s to the early 1900s. Shut out by the old money society of New York epitomized by Caroline Astor's "400," these nouveau riche families sought out social acceptability across the Atlantic instead. They launched their pert, pretty, privileged daughters into a hidebound British society which at first balked at the girls as little more than savages, but soon came to see that the girls' vast fortunes were just what their crumbling estates needed.

The book moves more or less chronologically, showing the phases of this phenomenon, from the "Buccaneers" like Jennie Jerome (mother of Winston Churchill) and Consuelo Yznaga, who led the charge into aristocratic marriages, to the Self-Made Girls like midwestern beauty Jeannie Chamberlain, to the later American Aristocrats, who often had spent more time in England than in America and saw themselves as every bit as worthy as the British aristocrats they married. Threaded through all these eras of "dollar princesses" is the fascination and support of Prince Albert, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), who admired and accepted the American arrivistes, giving them social acceptability and even encouraging matches between the girls and various titled men. The book also delves into lots of fascinating detail about the fashions, entertainments, manners, morals, and etiquette of both the British ruling families and the American families determined to crack into their insular institution. Worth gowns by the dozen, luxurious "cottages" in Newport, portraits done by John Singer Sargent, house parties with Prince Albert -- the book paints a vivid picture of the world in which these women lived.

A fascinating look at what was truly a fairly tawdry trend of the daughters of American robber barons and industrialists being groomed and brought up to be more or less sold off to impecunious dukes, earls, marquesses, and barons. A short-lived but intriguing period of time, and one that had a huge impact on the British aristocracy which is still felt today. Without the marriage of heiress Frances Work to the Baron Fermoy, after all, there would have been no Princess Diana, and no Princes William or George -- future kings, both.

I didn’t just enjoy the subject matter but the entire structure and layout of the book. Excellently done.

I wanted to like this book, and was genuinely interested in the material, but it was a bit too dry for me, and I just couldn't get into it. Filling the margins with quotes and such didn't help, nor did inserting little mini-articles throughout the book, all of which disrupted the flow.

I get the impression that this book was designed for people who don't usually read books. I'm not trying to be snarky (or not really), but the format is totally disorienting. I started reading it as a Kindle book and was so confused by all the jumping around between photos, sidebars, inset boxes, and captions that I checked out the library book, figuring it'd be easier to read. It really wasn't. The pages, rather than being straight text in blocks are divided into three text columns a la People magazine, with photos and pull-quotes inset into the page, and tidbits printed in the margins.

I'd much rather just read a book. There was some interesting information in here, but it was very thin and shallow. The best thing the book did was to describe the often-disorienting fate of the American heiress who married an English nobleman. She'd been bred and reared to attract an Englishman, but was woefully unprepared to actually be married to one. The sense of loneliness, disappointment, confusion, and misplaced expectations was very well done.

However, the rest of the books was mainly a gossip column about who married (or was slept with or hunted or snubbed) whom, how much money everyone was worth, how much everything (the dress, the house, the wedding) cost, who was or wasn't invited, and what everyone said about it. What wasn't touched on (and what I found appalling) were all the obviously corseted women including one seven months (!!!) pregnant. I'd have been interested to hear more about the physical ramifications of corsets (because I know there were some) instead of all this fluff.

It was mildly entertaining and could be amusingly snarky in portions. But overall, this really isn't a book I'd recommend.

Read this a while ago. It was fascinating but a little dry at times.

Good companion while watching Downton Abbey. Lots of photos to enliven a rather dry text.

This is a social history of the American heiresses that went husband hunting in England. I had not fully understood how many Americans married into the English noble families. The politics of New York society and London society were unveiled in a way you don't see in historical fiction.

2.5 stars for me. There were too many names to keep track of for me. And since everyone seemed to have the same first name it got even more confusing...oh and people went by multiple names because once they married they were Lady "whatever" and Duchess "doo-dad" and I couldn't keep it straight. I'm old and my mind is feeble. But the premise was interesting and these weddings shaped British-American relations for years to come. Oh and I can't dislike anything that served as inspiration of Downton Abbey. But honestly, I prefer Downton's focus on a single family much better (I know it's dramatized, but I can keep people straight!)

It's a history of the American women who married British men, however, it's fascinating but it's not. It seems to be written for teens and I wish it had more of a narrative.