The Titled Americans: Three American Sisters and the British Aristocratic World into Which They Married
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List Price: $15.00 $10.20 $ 4.80 ( 32% ) Grove Press Elisabeth Kehoe
Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 973.508621EAN: 9780802142191ISBN: 0802142192Label: Grove PressManufacturer: Grove PressNumber Of Items: 1Number Of Pages: 420Publication Date: 2005-10-11Publisher: Grove PressStudio: Grove Press
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Editorial Reviews: Elisabeth Kehoe brings to life a sweeping, three-generational saga of the remarkable Jerome sisters -- among the most glamorous women of their time -- whose well-chosen marriages to British aristocracy represented the first of such transatlantic unions. Although full of princely lovers, balls, house parties, and diamond brooches, the story’s heart is the intensely supportive and beautifully affectionate relationship between the sisters. Waves of grave financial hardship afflicted them all, but they always rallied to rescue one another. Beginning in 1840s America and ending one hundred years later in the middle of World War II when the British nation was fighting for survival under the leadership of Jennie’s son, Winston Churchill, this biography presents an epic story of family and fortune that encompasses both the apogee and the twilight of the British Empire.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Fascinating, if flawedComment: My title applies to the protagonists of the book as well as the book itself. The three Jerome sisters were certainly fascinating women, though incredibly self-absorbed at the expense of their children. The husbands all come off as cads, which I suppose can excuse some of their excesses. You almost get exhausted reading all the examples of shallowness throughout the generations. There were some eggregious errors by the author (one passage referred to a Tsar of Russia as Nicholas II before Nicholas was even born! The author must have meant his father, Alexander III). It's errors like this that detract from getting into the story. It's entertaining, but not as good as other bios of the time period.Customer Rating: Summary: Good book!Comment: The author has done a good job for her first book, her writing style is engaging allowing you to imagine you are witnessing the trails and trumipths of the Jeromne sisters.
Customer Rating: Summary: Good for history, not so much for entertainmentComment: This work chronicles the rise of one American family in the first half of the 1800s. The father is able to acquire a fortune through the stock market, and the mother is determined to take her three daughters to Europe where they will be able to trade their financial prospects for a European title, coming at the beginning of a series of marriages in which American heiresses were joined to less wealthy but socially advanced British nobility (particularly minor nobility). However, as the fortunes of the Jerome family wax and wane with the unsteady stock market, so do the prospects, marriages, and lives of the three Jerome sisters. Of special interest because one of the sisters (Jennie) is the mother of Winston Churchill.
Customer Rating: Summary: Decent Historical Overview of Jerome SistersComment: Elisabeth Kehoe's "The Titled Americans" is a good examination of the lives and careers of the surviving daughters of American financier Leonard Jerome: Leonie, Clara (originally Clarita), and especially, Jennie, the oldest, and probably best known for being the mother of Winston S. Churchill. Kehoe covers a lot of ground, focusing primarily on the lives of Leonie and her Leslie family and of Clara and her Frewhen family. Unfortunately, as another reviewer has so aptly noted here, we do not really get more than a terse descriptive look at these sisters, their husbands, and children. Without question, Jennie Jerome Churchill (Lady Randolph Churchill) was undoubtedly the most interesting of the three, working tirelessly as a dutiful politican's wife and as an unpaid resident "American Ambassador" to the United Kingdom at a time when relations between Americans and the British were far more cordial, and far less friendly, than they are now. I was struck reading how the lives of all three sisters were in many instances quite similar, having endured either poverty or unhappily married bliss (or in at least one instance both) inspite of their matrimonial alliances to British aristocracy. This slender volume serves mainly at best as a fine overview of the Jerome sisters and of their families; those wishing to read more about them should read the elegant biographies written by family members, most notably those by Winston S. Churchill.Customer Rating: Summary: Interesting but loses steamComment: Interesting story about these sisters but it is very shallow in that it never gets past the surface. We never know what drives these women and never get a true sense of their personalities. then towards the last third of the book, it becomes more of an itinerary than anything else. All you read is "....then Clare went here, then Jenny went there..." I think this author has promise. Apparently, this is her first book so I am hoping that she learns more writing skills. Lots of incorrect historial information as well. Unless I am missing something, was there someone called "Grand Princess Tsarvena" and "Grand Prince Tsar"? Apparently, the author tells us these 2 people were the future Nicholas II and Alexandra, who, according to the author "..attended his sister Marie's wedding to Queen Victoria's son..." Now, last I read, Marie was the daughter of Alexander II and NOT the sister of Nicholas II. AND, Nicholas II didn't even know Alexandra at this time. This is just one historical error but since this was my first connection with these sisters how can one be assured that they are reading the truth.
