To Marry an English Lord

January 1, 1989
This delightful account of how American heiresses in the post-Civil War era packed up their trunks and went husband-hunting in England demonstrates that our national infatuation with British aristocracy is nothing new. The young women had good looks and big bucks; the often debt-ridden Brits had titles, castles and a society that was ``more stimulating and more permissive, more leisurely and more sophisticated than Old New York.'' MacColl and Wallace (editor of and contributor to, respectively, The Preppy Handbook ) chronicle the lives of the rich and famous on both sides of the ocean, dishing up spicy gossip, pithy social commentary (by 1910, ``Society in America became more sure of itself. Social climbers no longer needed titles for legitimacy'') and obscure historical tidbits (because they were almost never allowed to sit in Queen Victoria's presence, her ladies-in-waiting ``habitually bought shoes a size too big since their feet swelled so badly''). The book also includes witty profiles of leading American ladies and their British lords, piquant period photographs and handy tips on proper etiquette, such as ``Any man who reverses changes the direction in which he's spinning his partner during a waltz is a cad.'' BOMC alternate.