The Titled Americans : Three American Sisters and the English Aristocratic World into Which They Married

Rating:
Summary: History made interesting
Review:
When i started reading this book, i wasn't sure if i would like it, seeing as i am not a non fiction person. But as it had come recommended by a trusted friend, i sat down and read. And read And read. I was engrossed. This book really brings the women covered in it alive. Their tempestous worlds fascinated me but most of all i was touched by the way the author had shown the sisterly bonds that kept them together when disaster struck again and again. Who said history can't be made interesting?

Rating:
Summary: Good overall look at the Jerome sisters
Review: This is a nicely written historical work, with lots of information about the three daughters of Leonard Jerome, one of whom was the fabulous Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill, the mother of Winston Churchill. As someone who's always been curious to learn more about Jennie and her two sisters and their extended family other than the Churchills, this book is very informative on that score and I applaud it for that reason. It was especially interesting to me to learn more about the children of Clara and Leonie Jerome; these being the Frewens and the Leslies, cousins of Winston Churchill...The young Frewens in particular had somewhat tortured upbringings, despite their "good birth" and I came away with a definite feeling of anger against Clara (the oldest sister) for being the selfish & childish creature that she was. I did think the author's choice of, and the presentation of, the photographic illustrations ,could have been somewhat better (there are instances of several photos crammed together on one page, and sometimes the quality of the photos are poor). I would have enjoyed seeing more pictures of the sisters in their heyday, as well as more pictures of them as they grew older.

Jennie was rather less a creature of her time than her sisters. She must have been fascinating to know! She was always reaching for the best in life and she had such energy. As the author rightly points out, if she were a man, Jennie would have been a power, but the times didn't allow that to happen for a "mere" woman.

However, that being said, I have to note that the author is a guilty of an odd phenomenon that I am noticing more and more, particularly in works of history and in historical biography. It's what I call an overt plagiarism. Now, before anyone gets their hackles up, I'm not accusing this author of being a plagiarist. It's simply that having read "Jennie" by Ralph Martin, and Anita Leslie's "The Marlborough House Set", together with her 1970 biography of Jennie, as well as several of the other books referenced by this author, one can pick out intonations, if you will, that are borrowed therefrom; their phrases, not exactly copied, but the inference of the other author is somehow right there. It's most obvious, naturally, in the chapters about Jennie, as she was the most famous sister and much more has been written about her.

And it's not just this author. I have noticed this type of overt plagiarism in two other recent works of history, Will Swift's "The Roosevelts and the Royals" and Princess Michael of Kent's recent book on Diane de Poiters, to name two...I'm going to be generous and assume that because an author has to steep himself in his historical subject, he might not be aware he is adapting another author's turn of phrase; conclusions; intonations; opinions, without giving credit where credit is due...it's NOT a word-for-word plagiarism but it's a unfortunate development which appears to be sadly becoming common in recent histories. I hope it can be stopped, because quite simply, it devalues an author's hard work.