The Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy

by Anne de Courcy

A deliciously told group biography of the young, rich, American heiresses who married into the impoverished British aristocracy at the turn of the twentieth century – the real women who inspired Downton Abbey

Towards the end of the nineteenth century and for the first few years of the twentieth, a strange invasion took place in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege and breeding in which the titled, land-owning governing class had barricaded itself for so long was breached. The incomers were a group of young women who, fifty years earlier, would have been looked on as the alien denizens of another world - the New World, to be precise. From 1874 - the year that Jennie Jerome, the first known 'Dollar Princess', married Randolph Churchill - to 1905, dozens of young American heiresses married into the British peerage, bringing with them all the fabulous wealth, glamour and sophistication of the Gilded Age.

Anne de Courcy sets the stories of these young women and their families in the context of their times. Based on extensive first-hand research, drawing on diaries, memoirs and letters, this richly entertaining group biography reveals what they thought of their new lives in England - and what England thought of them.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Audiobook, Historical, British Literature, American History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2017

About the author

Born in 1927, Anne de Courcy is a well-known writer, journalist and book reviewer. In the 1970s she was Woman’s Editor on the London Evening News until its demise in 1980, when she joined the Evening Standard as a columnist and feature-writer. In 1982 she joined the Daily Mail as a feature writer, with a special interest in historical subjects, leaving in 2003 to concentrate on books, on which she has talked widely both here and in the United States.

A critically-acclaimed and best-selling author, she believes that as well as telling the story of its subject’s life, a biography should depict the social history of the period, since so much of action and behaviour is governed not simply by obvious financial, social and physical conditions but also by underlying, often unspoken, contemporary attitudes, assumptions, standards and moral codes.

Anne is on the committee of the Biographers’ Club; and a past judge of their annual Prize. Her recent biographies, all of which have been serialised, include THE VICEROY’S DAUGHTERS, DIANA MOSLEY and DEBS AT WAR and SNOWDON; THE BIOGRAPHY, written with the agreement and co-operation of the Earl of Snowdon. Based on Anne’s book, a Channel 4 documentary “Snowdon and Margaret: Inside a Royal Marriage”, was broadcast.

Anne was a judge for the recent Biography section of the Costa Award in 2013, and is also one of the judges on the final selection panel judging the best of all the genres.

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting look at social life in America and England during the late 1800s. The author highlighted several American women who married into the British aristocracy, but also described society in general in both countries during this time. As a fan of Edith Wharton, I was especially pleased that the author referenced several of Wharton's works and discussed the real-life influences for her novels.

I had previously read "To Marry an English Lord" by Gail MacColl, which covers similar ground and is also recommended if you are interested in this time period.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Husband Hunters, written by Anne de Courcy is a fascinating look how American and British culture shaped The Gilded Age (1870-1910) and how the young daughters from prestigious wealthy American families married into the elite English aristocratic class. These ambitious young brides included Jennie Jerome (1854-1921) who married Lord Randolph Churchill mother of Sir Winston Churchill (1875-1965). The stunning beauty Adele Beach Grant who was the portrait for “The Lady in White” was also a friend of American novelist Edith Wharton, desired only to be a member of the highest society when she married the Earl of Essex at Saint Margaret’s, Westminster in 1893. Later, her social connections would include the Prince of Wales.

Following the ending of the American Civil War (1865) enormous fortunes were made in the railroad, mining, steam engines, wheat from the vast prairies and beef/cattle ranching from the west. The ‘old money’ included the vast wealth of the Astor’s, who controlled elite NYC society. Admission to attain prominent social standing was by invitation only. If a family wasn’t recognized by the powerful Mrs. Astor, exclusion was a certainty. Families as the Rockefellers, Carnegies and the Gould’s—remained on the outside. Clever matriarch’s discovered other ways to attain the social standing they coveted.
Edith Wharton, before her famous posthumous novel “The Buccaneer’s” (1938) was released, observed: “I wish the Vanderbilt’s didn’t retard culture so thoroughly. There was a shortage of marriageable American men, and mothers from wealthy families began looking abroad for suitable husbands for their daughters. In England, eligible aristocrat bachelor’s may have had impressive formal titles and vast landholdings on country estates, that required income and resources to maintain. A wealthy American heiress was a suitable option for Englishmen strapped for cash in an economy where agriculture was depressed and taxes were high. The American socialites were proper, well-mannered, confident, open-minded, and always charming. For many Englishmen, it was love at first sight—yet, getting through maternal check-points was challenging, a young wealthy bride-to-be was usually carefully monitored and managed by her mother and/or a chaperone. A beautiful educated daughter could boost the social standing of her family, whereas in England, a daughter was entirely dependent on her family for social status, and only son's could inherit resources and property..

Americans were always quite naturally drawn to Europe, some heiresses renewed ties with their ancestral culture there. The inner circle of British nobility was by invitation, through elegant balls and parties. There the American families could display their wealth, the heiresses spent a fortune on clothes, may custom made on travels to Paris with top fashion designers.
May Goelet was left a $20 million USD trust, and at 25, considered approaching dread, but was a matrimonial target. Rejecting a potential groom, she was holding out for a genuine marital love relationship.
Anna Gould (b.1875) was the wealthy daughter of robber barron Jay Gould. Overcoming her father’s b reputation would be challenging. Respectability for Anna in American high society wouldn’t be possible. Her first husband Boni de Casteilanes was a spendthrift and debts quickly mounted. Nonetheless, Anna enjoyed her place in French society from her husband’s name. After a shrewd maneuver, (she was her father’s daughter) she divorced Boni and married his cousin Prince de Sagan, who was just as rich as Anna.
Although Grace Wilson was from a vastly wealthy hardworking prominent family, and received well in high society-- Alice Vanderbilt finally welcomed her son Neily, Grace, and their son Cornelius Vanderbilt IV after years of estrangement, as the Wilson name was never good enough for marriage to a Vanderbilt.

The Gilded Age that supported grand styles and extravagant displays of wealth in society had ended. The wealthy elite were less concerned excess and the rise to the top. There were campaigns against sweatshops, village schools and improved conditions at orphanages brought more attention to public welfare reform. Alva Vanderbilt donated large sums to the Political Equality League (1909) as the conditions related to the Women’s Suffrage movement gained attention.
In England, the grand country estates, many fully restored with American money were now open for public tours. Maude Burke had introduced English opera. Nancy Astor was the first woman elected to Parliament. One of the greatest most influential leaders in modern history was Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The American effect in English culture was unmistakable and very good indeed. ** Many thanks and appreciation to St. Martin's Press via NetGalley for the DDC for the purpose of review.

[Marialyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ever so interesting stars

They say money can't buy you happiness but in the late 1800s and early 1900s, it could buy you a husband. "Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping." (Bo Derek) ...and shopping these girls and their mothers did. They were shopping for an entrance into high society and were willing with their bags filled with money to climb that social ladder no matter what it took. This was the world of The Husband Hunters: Social Climbing in London and New York

This was a fascinating tale of wealth, copious wealth, and what it bought at the end and beginning of the nineteenth century. The money, extravagantly spent, thrown around and perhaps even squandered was a way or an entrance into society where the rules were stringent and life was dictated by status, who you were descended from, and of course how much your husband, father, and family was worth. If you were a nouveau riche, you were not accepted into society unless of course you found a way.

Many of the women depicted in this well researched novel were forwarded by their mothers who tripped onto the fact that marrying a royal peer of the realm was a way in which the climb up the ladder could be accomplished. The royal peers were anxious and ready for these young American heiresses as you see many of these men were verging on bankruptcy and a rich young woman's fortune went to them at their marriage. Here one might think of Cora in Downton Abbey as she herself brought fabulous wealth to Robert Crawley. Though romanticized, the fate of many of these young girls was not as lovely as Cora's. Through the British system of entail all monies went to the male and if a male child was produced all the wealth went to him at the death of the father.

There were many well know ladies who were married off in this fashion. Jennie Jerome married Randolph Churchill and she was one of the first to find her way into high society. This book takes us into the wealth of those in New York, the Astors, the Vanderbilts, and others who conspicuously entered an age coined as as the Gilded Age. The parties, the balls, the costs even by today's standards were astronomical. They had, as the term implies, money to burn and burn it they indeed did. The clothes the gowns, the requirements of the dress of the day had women ordering from the dressmaker of the day. Their gowns sometimes twenty to thirty ordered for a season were often embedded with thousand of dollars worth of diamonds, emeralds, pearls and other valuable gems. What they didn't wear on their gowns they wore around their necks, wrists and suspended from their shoulders or waists. Tiffany was their main supplier of jewels, china, and serving pieces made from solid gold and silver. No expense was spared, no amount of spending was considered inappropriate. It was a time of wealth unparalleled as there was no income tax collected so literally fortunes made were fortunes kept.

This was a fascinating tale of wanting things that money could buy. Many young girls were sacrificed to the wishes of their mothers who so desired to be included in the glitterati of the time that they were willing to figuratively prostitute their daughters.

http://www.victoriana.com/all-the-gli...

Thank you to Anne de Courcy, St Martin's Press and Edelweiss for a copy of this most fascinating book
My reviews can be found here: https://yayareadslotsofbooks.wordpres...

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

More than a bit disappointed with this book. The subject matter sounded perfect for me, and I've enjoyed de Courcy's works in the past.
I marvel at how sometimes writers can turn the most interesting subjects into dull books.
So many clichés. Basically it seemed to boil down to 'American girls had money, were lively, confident, educated and outspoken. Impoverished English gentlemen found them far more attractive than English girls who were undereducated, quiet and retiring and lived their lives in their brothers shadows'.
I'd have liked more about how these 'fairy tale' marriages panned out - de Courcy tends to concentrate on the courtship rather than the 'happy ever after'.
Goodness knows how some of these American girls, often very young, coped with being thrown into the British aristocracy. I imagine it wasn't just the plumbing they struggled with.
So much repetition too. Unsurprisingly we meet the same characters throughout the book (it was a pretty closed circle of people). However, each person is introduced again and again as if we hadn't heard about them in previous chapters.
Bad editing? Who knows but it got tiresome.

[Jill H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Economist Thorstein Veblen coined the phrase "conspicuous consumption" and this book illustrates it perfectly. Wealthy high society in NYC was a very complicated system of genealogy, manners, money, and the right connections. And the more money spent on achieving and "one upping" each other, the better. While the wealthy husbands were involved in the business of making more money, the wives were the arbiters of what was socially acceptable and fought to be considered a part of Mrs. Astor's "400" which was the touchstone of acceptability. And how better to be noticed than to have your daughter marry a titled Englishman.

The author follows the fate of several young women who were practically held hostage by their mothers in order to make the "right" marriage......and love was not a consideration. So they dragged their daughters to Britain in search of an eligible young man who would trade a title for money. Many of the heirs to old English titles were desperate for funds for upkeep of their large estates, hunting lodges, and stables of fine horses. Marrying an heiress from America who they barely knew was the answer. And so this marriage lottery flourished through the latter part of the 19th and early 20th century.

Although the book is gossipy and rather interesting in parts, the practice was shameful and the amount of money spent/squandered was almost beyond belief. The mothers and in some cases, the daughters, were shallow, grasping individuals who were willing to do anything to be a part of "society" as defined by those at the top.

There is enough here to keep you interested but the subject matter will make you wonder why these individuals did not realize the absurdity of it all.

[Nicholas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I only made it through the first two chapters. I'm as down for a gossipy romp through the lives of rich Americans marrying cash-poor British aristocrats as the next person, but honestly, de Courcy spewed so many broad generalizations about American women's history that I had to put it down. I get it: she's a journalist, not a historian, but there are PLENTY of accounts of the history of US women that she could have read in order to properly contextualize her subjects. None of them appear in the bibliography because apparently de Courcy didn't consult them.

It's possible that the chapters covering the individual marriages -- sort of a real life version of Cora, Lady Grantham, of Downton Abbey -- would have been amusing, but I just couldn't get around all that was wrong in her characterization of women as being men's equals in Gilded Age America (hint: this was not the case! Sadly, it's STILL not the case!) in order to keep going.

[Tatiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit disorganized IMO, but has enough juicy details for both Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age fans.

[SueKich · Rating 2 out of 5]

Peerless?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the stately homes of England have always been in dire need of an injection of capital. Equally, that American money looks to the English aristocracy for an injection of class. At the turn of the last century, this mutual requirement reached its apotheosis in the Gilded Age. Superrich American matrons raked the ranks of English noblemen in search of the most desirable titles for their daughters (nothing less than an earl would do). This was not for their daughters’ sakes but rather for their own - for thus would nouveau riche matriarchs be elevated in the eyes of New York society.

Anne de Courcy is very good on snippets of social history and knows the price of every party canapé, hyacinth boutonnière and diamond tiara. “There were many attempts to calculate the total amount of American dollars spent in dowry payments; one estimate said that American brides had brought in $50 million to Britain, but the probability is that it was nearer a billion dollars – money that went straight into the pockets of the men they married.”

Unfortunately, Ms de Courcy is far better on the times of the husband hunters than the husband hunters themselves. From Astors to Vanderbilts, there were plenty of larger-than-life characters during this period, but here, their tales come across as somewhat drab. One can almost see the hundreds of yellow post-its with all the points to cover dotted around the author's desk but sadly they have been arranged in less-than-scintillating order. A shame. But having good stories to tell does not a good story-teller make. 2.5*

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 3 out of 5]

Netgalley #53

Many thanks go to Anne de Courcy, W & N, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

Edith Wharton's classic The Buccaneers comes to life in this page-turner. So many young ladies of the great monied classic in America sought the hand and titles of the royalty in Europe, or should I say their mothers did for their daughters. No price was too large, no trip too far, no peerage too high for these esteemed, and sometimes somewhat tacky women.
According to the author "between 1870 and 1914, 454 American girls married titled Europeans." It was viewed as an "invasion", but those aristocrats needed the funds for the upkeep of their estates. Love rarely entered the picture. Monogamy was a joke. Rarely were these couples satisfied with any aspect of marriage.
De Courcy does a great job of introducing the reader to the various young women whose lives were topsy turvy during the Edwardian Period. Their mothers are described as piranha. And the husbands are absolute toads. No one could really be considered a winner as far as I was concerned because no one was truly happy. Proof that money does not buy happiness.

[Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book about wealth and noble titles

What a great book! Anne de Courcy has written a wonderful history of 19th century American mega-heiresses who crossed the pond in search titled husbands. There were 102 such brides who married British peers between 1870 and 1914. The noblemen/grooms typically were impoverished and desperately searching for cash infusions to save their debt-ridden estates. Most of these marriages were unsuccessful though some were happy. Usually American brides were free-spirited, and well educated, quite different than their subdued English and European counterparts, hence they were exotic by comparison and desirable (though their money surely was the biggest factor spotlighting their charm). Yet they found themselves strangers in strange lands still adjusting to customs, even after 50 years of living there, often with intense unhappiness.

I learned a lot from this book. de Courcey has an engaging writing style, capturing the essence of many different heiresses in her many biographical essays. My single small issue was her complex sentences detailing relationships between the various actors. So many were in some sentences it was impossible to decipher all the names and match them with correct corresponding pronouns. Aside from this, what a book! Get lost in history and be entertained by the tales of America’s wealthiest families in search of buying titles for themselves.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 solid stars
2022 I am researching The Gilded Age while watching the TV show by Julian Fellowes of the same name. I returned to this book for reference and it is fantastic.
I must've been in a bad mood upon my initial reading of this.
This gives so much background, richness and depth to this entire complicated time period. Often books on this time period are about an endless series of grand homes and decorations, this focuses more on the people involved.

To Marry An English Lord by Gail MacColl and Catol Wallace is much lighter tone but also lacks the sheer density of information packed into this book.

[Christina (Confessions of a Book Addict) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This non-fiction audio book was just as riveting as some of the fictional tales I've listened to lately. De Courcy focuses on the Victorian and the Edwardian eras and the American heiresses who married into the British aristocracy. I was worried a non-fiction audio book wouldn't work for me and that I'd be lost. However, not once did I get confused; de Courcy brings it all to life in an easy way to understand. The Husband Hunters was deliciously addicting, especially for fans of this time period as well as Downton Abbey.

Read the rest of my review here:
http://www.confessionsofabookaddict.c...

[Literary Redhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE HUSBAND HUNTERS tells the real story of the Cora Crawleys of Downton Abbey, the American heiresses who traversed the Atlantic with their riches for marriage with British blood bloods. Author Anne de Courcy has penned an addictive read, as we follow this coterie of American debs England-ward. Winston Churchill’s mother, Jennie Jerome, was considered the first “Dollar Princess” after she left America and married Randolph Churchill in 1874. The heiress exodus continued to 1905, bringing dozens of these wealthy women to prop up land rich but dollar poor British aristocrats. Detailed source information, derived from letters, memoirs and diaries, produces a rich biographical tapestry of the Husband Hunters and their resultant English lives. Highly recommended!

Pub Date 07 Aug 2018

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully mine.

#TheHusbandHunters #NetGalley

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a 4.5 for me. Mostly because it's very entertaining and full of great anecdotes. Mind you, there's less about American ladies husband hunting in England than there is about them social climbing in New York, so the title's a smidge misleading. Still--it will not only stay on my shelf, I will probably read it again in the near future and take notes.

[Lady Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me so much longer than it should have because I was so fascinated by the characters. I had to stop and look up each person- see their homes and their jewels and, inevitably, it meant I got trapped in a rabbit hole. LOVED it and now I want to learn more about these fascinating people

[Saturday's Child · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of names, stories and history, this one was an interesting read.

[Janet Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent non-fiction for background and context for Edith Wharton’s novels.

[JoAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect nonfiction background material... now I'm ready to read The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton.
3.5 / 5 stars

[Star Merrill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so full of information, it was mind-boggling. The Gilded Age should have been renamed, the spoiled rotten, social climbing, snob age. The amount of money these people spent (on a good time) was obscene. The gist of the book was that the mothers of the socially conscious sent their daughters abroad to snag a titled man for a husband, thereby assuring their acceptance into the inner circle, or the Four Hundred.
I wish there was a pedigree chart, as there were so many names as to be confusing. These women were competing endlessly to have the most prestigious people at their soirees and spent millions to achieve that end.
The rich American girls got married to penniless-titled men, who did nothing but gamble, spend, race yachts and womanize. I don't know who was more despicable, the Anglos or the Americans.
I have to say, however, that it was most interesting, even tho' I was shaking my head at the way the rich acted. All that money that could have been put to good use, instead of lending to one's aggrandizement. Tsk, tsk!

[Author Annabelle Leigha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very inciteful!

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting more from The Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy by Anne de Courcy. I was hoping for more of a biography of a select group of wealthy American women who married in the British aristocracy, than a general history lesson about the aristocracy. It has moments of where it really dives into the history of the women at the core, especially the further you go into the book. I was really intrigued when I got to chapter sixteen when the book features Tennessee Claflin and her much more well known, Victoria Woodhull who was the first woman to run for U.S. President in 1872. The author even discusses their hometown of Homer, Ohio for a second which is practically in my backyard, so that was a bit exciting since I rarely have the chance to see village/ small town/ rural central Ohio in fiction or nonfiction. The author also gives a run down of many of their accomplishments until they marry into the aristocracy, including their connection with Cornelius Vanderbilt, their brokerage on Wall Street, their newspaper, and speaking before the House Judiciary Committee. I was stunned to see that Victoria Woodhull's run for President garnered only one sentence (out of a sixteen page long chapter) given that that was such an important part of both Victoria and Tennie's lives and futures. Like I said, I was just expecting more from Anne de Courcy's The Husband Hunters. It was intriguing to see what she chose to focus on, gloss over, and leave out.

[Carolyn Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne de Courcy's social histories are always fun to read - I have previously read 1939: The Last Season, Debs at War and The Fishing Fleet - and The Husband Hunters is equally packed with fascinating details about elite society in late 19th and early 20th century Britain and the United States. The phenomenon of American heiresses marrying British and European nobleman has been covered in other books - including "To Marry an English Lord" - but de Courcy's book is notable for focusing as closely on American social traditions as British ones. She is also interested in the mothers of the heiresses who often arranged glittering marriages for their daughters in the hope of being accepted by established social circles in New York or Boston. I would have been interested to read more about the marriages themselves as the focus is education, courtship and weddings rather than later married life. An enjoyable read.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book was thorough & interesting. I expected more of a narrative of the matchmaking & follow up to the lives lived after meeting their chosen royal match. However, the book focused more on the social hierarchies and manipulation of social status both in NY during the Gilded Age and abroad. The author did a great job of character developing for each family, their motivations, wealth, limitations in traditional society and the fallout that came from their matchmaking. Sometimes I found all of the names tedious to recall. Overall, I enjoyed the book & it left me wanting to learn more about the Gilded Age.

[Melanie THEE Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars
A sweeping account of the marriages between American heiresses and English aristocrats. Some of these marriages ended in Happily Ever After while others…not so much. If you love The Gilded Age or Downton Abbey like I do, this is the book for you!

Update 8/26/23: This book wasn’t perfect but it did inspire me to buy a copy of The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton and a Historical Fiction novel about Consuelo Vanderbilt so there’s that!

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating history of rich American women who sought and found husbands among European royals. The money the wives brought to the marriages was what helped these men whose fortunes had declined and who needed massive amounts of cash to keep their estates afloat. The titles made these women whose fortunes were new access to the high society of New York previously denied them.

[Kricket · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun listen, and made me want to dive deeper into the stories of some of the women featured. The book moves pretty quickly across the lives of many people, so I did have to rewind several times in order to remind myself what heiress was currently being discussed- might be easier to read in print, plus the print book has photos! Recommend.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't love the structure of this--all individual stories, little cohesion--but the content itself was fascinating. This is such an interesting period to me. The excess is all too much, but it's so interesting to think about. An interesting alternate history would be what if the american fortunes didn't make it back to the UK. What would the state of old english manor houses be now?

[Lisa]

Another clunker I was forced to read for book club.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

[See this and other reviews at my website, www.ReadingwithChampagne.com]

Lately, I’ve had so many books come into my life at just the right time. I had just finished Master of His Fate by Barbara Taylor Bradford, and towards the end of the book, there was a reference to the phrase “Buccaneers.” While I immediately thought of pirates, The phrase stems from the Edith Wharton novel The Buccaneers, which refers to a group of wealthy American women who were groomed for marriage to the privileged upper classes of Britain. I had a copy of de Courcy’s book on my shelf from when I requested a copy from the publisher in August, and thought this was an opportune time to pick it up.

I began to make connections with Cora Crawley from Downtown Abbey, but other than this fictional example, I realized how little I knew about the American Aristocracy (and even less about the British Aristocracy and general British history). Chapter by chapter, de Courcy walks us through the key players, mostly mothers, looking to help their daughters find loopholes into climbing the social ranks of the American upper crust. It was a mutually beneficent arrangement- British families were in need of money after being hit by a severe agricultural depression, American families were in “need” of climbing the social ladder.

I found the subject matter fascinating, and not something I think I would have normally explored on my own. I knew from historical context that many women did not have choice in who they would marry (perhaps even more in the upper class), but to see it “up close and personal” really drove the lesson home. One case in particular, that of Consuelo Vanderbilt, caused me to wince a few times while reading. Her mother, Alva Vanderbilt, trapped Consuelo in her home until she was agreeable to her arranged marriage (despite being engaged to a man she truly loved).

Even Edith Wharton’s first hopeful engagement was crushed, too, presumably by her to-be-fiancé’s mother.

I am always in awe of the lengths people will go to for social climbing. Were these “dollar princess” mothers any different from Mama Rose in Gypsy? The rules, the restrictions, the tabloids humiliating everyone (with, seemingly, no boundaries). What a depressing time! I think de Courcy really set the stage to help readers understand- people, and especially women, felt this kind of social climbing was necessary.

Despite these colorful characters being separated by chapter, I found that the many people described in the book were near impossible to keep straight. Perhaps inclusion of family trees, maps, or anything else embedded in the chapters themselves to provide clarification would be helpful.

I also wish there had been a little more context for American culture, outside of the esteemed upper class of New York. For example, de Courcy sites that it was often easier for American women to nudge their way into British society because things that would’ve made them “less desirable” (such as having a regional accent, or where they came from), were not easily detectable by their British counterparts…but didn’t go into specifics. I can make presumptions based on modern times, but what exactly did this mean in the 1800s?

De Courcy notes that there were significant the cultural differences between who “ran” the household in the US vs. Britain (US=run by women, Britain= run by men), but didn’t site historical context. For example, Southern women especially had an interesting shift in duties due to the men being off to war, an effect that I’m sure had ripple effects even after the war (I remembered this from history class, but you can read more here). Would this have merited inclusion in the book? Would it have made the book too long?

I have to give kudos where it’s due. Clearly de Courcy put a lot of effort into the research of this book (can you imagine tracking down personal letters from over 150 years ago?). I really enjoyed this book, and it’s a good jumping off point for one of my goals for 2019- to read more history books!

Source: I received a copy from St. Martins Press in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Holli · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Gilded Age was a crazy time. Those guys were crazy rich in a way I can't quite fathom. And the way that all that money was used was one of the really fun things to learn. That so much of this money ended up over in the UK where it helped shore up the broke aristocracy and preserve estates and the like is so interesting. What would the US be like if that money had stayed here and been used to build more Biltmores and Breakers or the society matrons had had to use starting more arts foundations like the Met to climb the social ladder?
This helps to explain the social and personal reasons behind the various husband hunters of the Gilded Age. The book does a good job of setting the stage and giving a window on the excesses of the time. There are a lot of people to cover and the book does it's best to give each story it's due but some are just more interesting than others. As time goes on they do tend to blend together and because each story/chapter is in a different time period the overlapping of events and people can get confusing.
This book has definitely sparked my interest in learning a lot more about the Gilded Age.