PRAIRIE FEVER: British Aristocrats in the American West 1830-1890. (2012). Peter Pagnamenta. ****.
This is a fascinating and well-written account of an invasion of our American West by hordes of British nobility. There were two main driving forces for these invasions: the problem of what to do with second, and subsequent, sons when the law of primogeniture insured that the eldest son inherited both the estate and the money upon the death of the father, and younger sons were left to fend for themselves or live off the generosity of their eldest brother; second the spirit of adventure – particularly hunting. The author provides the story of these British nobels and their actions in the Great Plains region in a way that allows the reader to understand their motivations and subsequent actions. In addition to the adventurers, we also learn about the groups who came over and established British towns on the Prairie, including Le Mars, IA, Runnymeade, KS, and Rugby, TN. Subsequent transplants also explored the potential business opportunities in the area and bought up hugh tracts of land then converted to cattle ranches in TX, OK, CO, etc. One of the side benefits of this influx was that the hunters and explorers often engaged artists to travel with them. These artists, including George Catlin and Alfred Jacob Miller, in the end provided a visual history of the Plains Indians and the scenery of the area. I truly enjoyed this work and recommend it to all American history buffs.