Prairie fever : how British aristocrats laid claim to the American West / Peter Pagnamenta

London : Duckworth, 2012. First Edition. Hardback. An exceptional copy; fine in an equally fine dust wrapper. Particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Literally as new.; 8vo 8"" - 9"" tall; 338 pages; Physical description; xvii, 338 p., [16] p. of plates : ill., maps ; 25 cm. Recounts the lives and adventures of British aristocrats who explored and settled in the American West between 1830 and 1890, becoming landowners and making social adjustments to rub elbows with fur traders, Indians, and buffalo. From the 1830s onward, a succession of well-born Britons headed west to the great American wilderness to find adventure and fulfillment. They brought their dogs, sporting guns, valets and all the attitudes and prejudices of their class. Prairie Fever explores why the West had such a strong romantic appeal for them at a time when their inherited wealth and passion for sport had no American equivalent. In fascinating and often comic detail, the author shows how the British behaved and what the fur traders, hunting guides and ordinary Americans made of them as they crossed the country to see the Indians, hunt buffalo and eventually build cattle empires, buying up vast tracts of the West. But as the British blue bloods became big American landowners, they found themselves attacked and reviled as land vultures and accused of attempting a new colonization. The denouement came when Congress moved against the foreigners and passed a law to stop them from buying land. Peter Pagnamenta's wonderful account shows the enthusiasm of the British for new horizons in the age of empire, set against the rise of a modern nation that would soon eclipse them. Biography; Peter Pagnamenta is a historian and writer of books and major television series. He has produced many history documentaries for the BBC including People's Century, the award-winning series on the great changes of the twentieth century. He is a former editor of Panorama, the flagship weekly current affairs programme. Subjects; British Americans - West (U.S.) - History - 19th century. British Americans - West (U.S.) - Social life and customs - 19th century. Pioneers - West (U.S.) - Biography. Frontier and pioneer life - West (U.S.). West (U.S.) - History - 19th century. Social & cultural history ; Social classes ; American history: c 1800 to c 1900.