To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery… (1989 original; edició 2012)

Ok, this is a book full of really interesting information, but I can only assume that it is extremely odd in format -- either a chapter or a heading after every few paragraphs. And by assume, I mean that I had the misfortune to listen to the audio book version of it -- if you think the text was choppy in print, imagine a crisp, rarely expressive voice reading it with all seriousness. Its confusing, and just when she gets a rhythm going, she has to swap to another anecdote. When she started reading a table listing the names of American fathers and their titled daughters, I had to walk away. Who thought this would be a plausible audio book? Anyway. The content seems good, the reader is very clear, the delivery of all of it was a terrible idea. ( )

Picked this up because it is reportedly the inspiration behind Downton Abbey.

From an historical perspective, it was interesting to read how the American rich went about buying European titles for their daughters. But none of the recounted stories went particularly deep into anything other than the societal “warfare” and strategies for winning.

From a modern perspective ... ick. It felt more like breeding dogs or race horses. I’m not sure who most resembled prostitutes: the mothers and daughters marketing themselves for a title or the English lords trading their titles for money to maintain their lifestyles. I have to wonder if the English system of nobility wouldn’t have collapsed a century ago but for the infusion of cash and fresh blood the heiresses brought into the mix.

All in all, it leaves me glad to be living in the times and economic status I do; and makes me feel rather sorry for “the ruling class” that lived to see their empire begin to fall apart.

Most of my sympathy is reserved for the American industrialists who got to see their hard-earned wealth blown through by extravagantly spending wives, over-indulged daughters, and essentially useless sons-in-law. ( )

I actually enjoyed this more than I remembered. This is light and quirky.
Must read for fans of Downton Abbey and 'Cash for titles' history. ( )

it was entertaining and light reading ( )

The history and dresses behind the Downton Abbey TV series.

I love the history and information in this book, and I loved the number of photos and images included, they really helped bring history and stories more to life and there were a LOT of them. The more the better...usually.

I was not a fan of the overall format and layout of the images and the side bubbles of stories. You would be on a roll reading an engaging story and then turn the page and instead of what you were reading you would have a page or two of photos and illustrations often not about what you were just reading. And then it would go back to your story. This made it very difficult at times to keep things straight and made the photos mean less because they were so annoying.

To fans of the period or the shows Downton Abbey, there is still a lot of value in this book, especially if you just want to have it to reference once in a while. I did learn new things and I really enjoyed seeing images of the dresses referred to in the text but I have no cohesive sense of what I read. If you are looking for a more serious history book or a more coherent story, I'd say skip it. ( )