Montgomery

1989 · 150795 — London / New York: Routledge 1989. Hardcover. VG- Slight wear to top edge of dj; some instances of pencilled underlings and handwritings in text; otherwise clean. Maroon cloth gilt letters on spine beige & illus. dust jacket 342 pp. "Examines the marriage of British peers to American women within the context of the opening up of London and New York society and the growing competitiveness for high social status. In London American women were often blamed for the growing hedonism and materialism of smart society and for poaching in the marriage market. They were invariably described as frivolous vain and calculating -- a description which points to the simmering anti-American sentiment in Britain. It was even suggested that titled Americans were having a detrimental effect on the British peerage because of their failure to produce male heirs. This is a brilliant analysis of the reasons why American women were viewed pejoratively not only in terms of anti-American feeling in Britain and the social transformation of the British upper class but also the threat of women who did not appear to conform to aristocratic notions of a peeress's duties as a wife and mother." dj. Routledge hardcover books