I think I checked this book out from NetGalley when we were reading The Age of Innocence in Classics Book Club a few years ago. I thought it was more interesting in the macro rather than the micro in that I wasn't particularly interested in the Vanderbilts or Astors, but liked learning about the general effort of American women to find English husbands. I should probably have just read Wharton's The Buccaneers.

Though they lacked the right to vote, the wealthy matrons of ‘fin de siecle’ New York did not lack power and influence. In terms of greed, ambition, strategic plotting and ruthlessness, they were every bit the equal of their menfolk. This is their story. The book also included interesting tidbits such as the origin of the phrase ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ and how the fabulous Metropolitan Opera came to be built. This book made for some very interesting reading. Well worth the time.

This is quite a lot of fun to read. At the end of the 19th c., American heiresses sailed to London hoping to marry/buy a title. And the titles being sought were ready to be bought. de Courcy has several stories of such women, and they are all fascinating. Interesting that we threw out the monarchy in the 18th c only to try and buy it back in the 19th.

This is an elegant and understated book of prose with an psychological core than burns powerfully. Readers will be haunted by the characters long after closing the last page, and de Courcy takes great care in building complex and intriguing characters.

In the late 1800s to the early 1900s, American heiresses married into the English nobility. These women became known as the “Dollar Princesses.” The women received a title while their husbands received a large dowry. In this nonfiction book, The Husband Hunters sheds light on the Dollar Princesses. It discusses how these women were trained since childhood on how to catch the eye of an English lord. This is the story of these women who were forced to leave their family and homeland in order to become part of the English aristocracy.

I had heard about the women who married into the English aristocracy, but I was surprised by how these women had spent most of their childhood and adolescence in training to attract an English nobleman. This was because their mothers viewed the English aristocracy to be the cream of society. As Mrs. De Courcy explains, hardly anyone could refuse dinner with an English lord. The Husband Hunters also gives us some biographies on a few of the Dollar Princesses. I liked hearing the story of Jennie Jerome, the mother of Winston Churchill, and Maud Burke. I also found the story of how Alva Vanderbilt forced her daughter Consuelo to marry the Duke of Marlborough to be heartbreaking and tragic.

Overall, The Husband Hunters tells the true stories of the women who had to leave their homeland and their families in order to win the hand of a impoverished English lord. This nonfiction book opened my eyes on how these women lived. There were times that the information became a bit repetitive and heavily detailed on the glitz and glamour of the English aristocracy. Despite these flaws, The Husband Hunters is very engaging and reads like a soap opera. There is splendour, romance, and scandal within its pages that makes the book compulsive and hard to put down. This book sheds light on a topic that is widely known but very little studied.

The Husband Hunters takes us back to another time. The craze of finding a husband to increase social standing became the norm. Socialites and those wanting to break into the social scene in the states began to head to Europe looking for titled husbands for their daughters.

Anne de Courcy takes us through a time in history when money was everything, and wealth was put on ostentatious display. The gaudier, the better. Everyone went out of their way to outdo the next and the power struggles within the social structures. The old money did not want to welcome the new money.

This book was something else! I knew about the American girls heading to the European circuits looking for husbands, but I never realized the extent of the power struggles that mothers went through to ensure that their daughters were placed into the social scene. This book was an eye-opener and brings an aspect of history that is not talked about often. LOVED THIS BOOK!

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.

Thank you to Anne de Courcy, St Martin's Press, NetGalley and Edelweiss for a copy of this most fascinating book

I really enjoyed this book -- It's full of wonderfully detailed, gossipy stories about the upper crust in England and America during the Gilded Age and the marriages that gave American heiresses royal titles and saved many British houses from ruin. The only reason I'm giving it three stars is that it is heavily in need of editing. It seems almost as if Anne de Courcy's notes were bound together into a book -- The narrative is all over the place, with certain stories and details repeated several times and the same women and men popping up randomly at different points in the book without explanation rather than their stories being told in one cohesive section.

I was inspired to read more about several of the people mentioned in The Husband Hunters (May Yohe and Tennessee Claflin to name a few) and WOW -- If an actress, novelist, or filmmaker is looking for a new project, there are some fantastic and fascinating ideas here!

If you loved Downton Abbey, I think you will like this book as well.

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.

this is another great read. I liked this book . She has a unique clean writing style that draws you in and just won't let you put the book down. I read this one in 5 hours. Highly recommend.

In addition to the details of (mostly) marriages that were an alliance of money plus titles, I found the differences between American and British women very interesting. As might be expected, American women were more opinionated and less retiring. I'm also very glad that I didn't live back then. Then, as now, money couldn't buy happiness.

I found this book entirely fascinating. I’ve read a lot of Regency historicals, and it was illuminating to read a factual account of this period, along with the true-life marriages of the time. Particularly of interest was the contrasting of American and English expectations for women and for marriage. Dress, personal hygiene, valuation of money… Nothing is too small for De Courcey’s attention.

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.

The Husband Hunters: Social Climbing in London and New York is a fascinating read. I give it five stars.

In the last half of the Nineteenth Century many American heiresses married into the British aristocracy, often with mixed results. This outstanding book not only examines the trends that lead to this phenomenon but also gives us rich, gossipy stories of these women and their families.

I loved it.

It was, unlike many modern histories that focus on women, wonderfully objective and historical. You won't find any hidden or not-so-hidden feminist agendas ruining the history. Instead she allows the facts, including many contemporary quotes, to tell the compelling story.

Written about extensively since their time, the subjects of news stories and novels, the reader will almost certainly know something about the women themselves as well as the societies of both London and New York, few will have looked extensively into the period. It's great for the rounded view of the period for them as well as for those looking for an introduction to the period.

For those interested in the Dollar Princesses, this is an set of stories about the various women who married into the English aristocracy by virtue of their father's fortunes during America's Gilded Age. While the stories are interesting, there isn't a strong structure or guide into the stories. They are more vignettes about each woman's specific circumstances, but they don't really go too deeply. Overall, the major women already known and chronicled in other books are not too deeply explored, and the other women who are not as well known didn't get enough fleshing out. Honestly, while the world and times are interesting, reading about overprivileged rich people whose whole purpose was to spend money just felt very exhausting.

If you loved Downton Abbey and the interplay between Cora, the American wife of Lord Grantham, you will love The Husband Hunters. I absolutely adored this book and didn't want it to end. I've always been fascinated by The Gilded Age and Anne de Courcy recreates the dizzying excitement of dazzling parties, grand houses, witty conversations and the glamor and sophistication of the time. Like Cora, young American women were enthralled by the British peerage and dreamed of "marrying well" and moving into a manor house. Terrific book, highly recommend!

This book offered a glimpse into the lives of American women who used their wealth to marry impoverished British aristocats. at the turn of the twentieth century. These unions were based on trying to be better than others in their social circle. A very interesting read!

I wasn't sure how to rate this book. On the one had the subject matter is very interesting but on the other hand I found I could only read a chapter at a time before getting bored so it took me awhile to get through the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

In 1874, Jennie Jerome, the daughter of a wealthy American financier, married Lord Randolph Churchill, the son of the Duke of Marlborough, and ushered in an American invasion of the British aristocracy. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American high society was comprised of old New York families with old money called the Knickerbockers, and Mrs. Astor was the head of high society. If she didn't care to know you, you were not included in society. Families awash in "new money" following the Civil War had little hope of entering this elite circle. The Knickerbockers respected titles, however, and marrying into the British or European peerage would guarantee the mother of a titled bride a place in Mrs. Astor’s society (while the newly minted Lady could rub shoulders with an HRH).

While American women looked to Britain and Europe to further their social standing, land rich but cash poor titled sons gained the money to keep their estates and aristocratic lifestyles. Beyond the obvious quid pro quo arrangement, both sides were drawn in for other reasons. American heiresses were vivacious, educated, and fashionable. They were quite different from aristocratic British women, and highly appealing to British lords. The Americans were taken by the old world romance, pomp and history, and the splendid estates that came with marrying into the peerage.

Anne De Courcy tells the stories of the many American women who married into the Continental and British aristocracy between 1870 and 1914 (of the 454 marriages in this period, 100 were into the British peerage), including Jerome -- one of the few to make a love match -- and Consuelo Vanderbilt, along with lesser known figures like Consuelo Yznaga, Virginia Bonynge, May Goelet, and Minnie Stevens. De Courcy also provides ample context for the time they lived in and the cultural differences between American and British society.

According to De Courcy, British society was patriarchal and women were dependent fathers and male relatives for their place in society since they could not inherit land or titles. American women, on the other hand, were used to a more matriarchal society and equality between spouses. Aristocratic British women were less educated, more reserved, and not extensively socialized with men before marrying age, while American women were the opposite. The fathers of these American heiresses gained their fortune through work and perseverance, while the peers they married wouldn’t dare work for money. Despite the initial allure, one can see why these marriages were generally unhappy, in the end.

De Courcy jumps from story to story, which makes the narrative seem disjointed and the timeline muddled. In many ways, the book is just as much about the time and society in which these women lived as the women themselves. Still, the glamour and drama will draw readers in. Fans of Downton Abbey who always wanted to know more about how American Cora Crawley became a duchess will enjoy the book, as will those interested in high society and women’s narratives.