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

I enjoyed reading about the various heiresses and their mothers, their advancements and otherwise. However, with all the descriptions of lavish furnishings, meals, parties, dresses and all, there are no photographs. I know they exist because these families were very wealthy. It wouldn't seem to me to be difficult to find some and include them in the book, especially when each chapter is devoted to one heiress and her parents. That was very disappointing.

Good historical information but extremely disorganized and scattered. Poorly written.

An interesting, gossipy overview of the Victorians and Edwardians, and their American Cousins. The coverage is a bit broader than just the American courtship of English titles and the British pursuit of American money. Other European royalty make their appearances, and the American excesses of Newport and 5th Avenue are given their due as well. The customs and mores of the so-called aristocracy on both sides of the Atlantic are covered. No one comes off admirably. The book serves to remind us that social coverage has always followed money, regardless of the lack of any redeeming qualities. Human nature remains consistent. An interesting read.

This book provides a different perspective on the gilded age and why so many wealthy American women were anxious to marry their daughters off into the European, especially English, aristocracy. I lived near Newport, RI and visited Marble House many times. Each docent gave a different view of Alva Vanderbilt’s determination that her daughter Consuelo marry the Duke of Marlborough. The Husband Huters tells many more stories of the pressure to ascend the social ladder and once at the top, stay there. What I found most interesting was how the American wealthy women and the English aristocratic women compared and contrasted. American girls were plucky but lacking intellectual curiosity. Their English counterparts were uneducated but many became social hostesses who shaped governments. Sd

This is a very interesting, detailed, and factual account of how New York families raised their social standing by marrying their daughters into the English landed gentry. The young women obtained titles and the English gentlemen found funds to finance their cash poor estates. The book is beautifully written to understand New York at the turn of the 19th century—a great historical account.

For those who like to read about the Gilded era and the ultra rich and how they became royalty, this book is very informative. The ultra rich were also the idle rich and were up to some hilarious things to amuse themselves. A really fun read.

This book is a wonderful study of the gilded age in America, [ca 1874-1907] before income tax, and in a time when vast fortunes were being amassed in the budding industrial revolution. It was a time when the ultra-rich competed with each other and the term "conspicuous consumption" was coined. The creme-de-la-creme achievement, apparently, was to secure an English title by marrying into the British aristocracy. The was a sure entree into the select 400 of New York City society and ambitions matrons would marry off their heiress daughters across the pond to impoverished nobility. It is well-written and very entertaining.

Beautifully written. Ironic and fascinating as it takes us to the turn of the last century when any English needed most a rich American woman to keep him going. They were a fascinating lot all of them and kept some of the greatest homes in England functioning, able to maintain staff and most of all save the poor Lord from a future none-too-bright without them. Fascinating woman all!

I have read most of Anne de Courcy's books and enjoyed them. She writes well and researches carefully. However, this is my least favourite of all her books. The extravagance and selfish displays of the 'elite' New Yorkers become rather sickening and in fact, unusually for me, I never finished this book. Impossible to admire the lavish dinners and parties when so many immigrants were living in such abject misery on the lower East Side.It contrasts quite sharply with her 'Fishing Fleet'. Generally those women were seeking a husband in India because their position in England, probably quite genteel but with few resources made it imperative to find a mate if they were not to have a life of poverty or existing as a barely tolerated 'poor relation' in another woman's house.

Well-written book about the Gilded Age, especially about the most well-known families.