Description
Book SynopsisThe extraordinary story of the British aristocracy's encounter with American frontier life in the nineteenth century.
Trade Review"Something of the magic of the Great West — its big skies and great rivers and prairies filled with game — can be found in Peter Pagnamenta's compelling narrative of the mania for the prairie grasslands that swept British aristocrats in the middle of the 19th century. Grand solitary travelers came first and their tales of adventure brought scores and then hundreds of others — lords and younger sons needing a way to live and retired military officers and men hoping to get rich and sportsmen who wanted a grizzly and dreamers who imagined a ranching kingdom might end boredom once and for all. It's an extraordinary story, told in
Prairie Fever with the kind of energy that makes you want to drop everything and go." -- Tom Powers, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author of The Killing of Crazy Horse
"Vivid… a constant delight. Mr. Pagnamenta tells this story with verve and style. His love of tales of derring-do on the prairie matches his subjects." -- Judith Flanders - Wall Street Journal
"[A] lost—and deeply weird—world…has been lovingly excavated and brought back to life." -- Miranda Seymour - New York Times Book Review
"Entertaining…. A deeply researched and finely delivered look at what can best be described as a counterintuitive slice of American history." -- Scott Martelle - Washington Post
"A parade of colourful personalities and richly detailed scenes which entertain and, cumulatively, expose the violence of cultural imperialism." -- Times Literary Supplement
"Lively and accessible…
Prairie Fever skewers the delusion [of romance and heroism] with wit and charm." -- Brian Schofield - The Sunday Times
