Disponible:*
Bibliothèque | Type de document | Numéro de cote topographique | Nombre d'enregistrements enfants | Emplacement | Statut | Réservations du document |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Recherche en cours... Branch | Book | 940.531 REY | 1 | Non-fiction Collection | Recherche en cours... Inconnu | Recherche en cours... Indisponible |
Recherche en cours... Central | Book | 940.531 R334R | 1 | Non-fiction Collection | Recherche en cours... Inconnu | Recherche en cours... Indisponible |
Relié avec ces titres
Commandé
Résumé
Résumé
The fascinating social and political history of a time when a million and a half American servicemen crowded onto a small island, training and waiting for a conflict which would eventually cost many of them their lives. "A superb job of telling one of the most fascinating stories of World War II."--Stephen E. Ambrose. 16 pages of photos, maps, charts, and political cartoons. Index.
Critiques (5)
Critique du Publishers Weekly
Three million boisterous, materialist and decidedly horny U.S. servicemen ``occupied'' Britain between 1942 and 1945, taking over large tracts of land for bases and depots, and Americanizing the country in ways that tended to be traumatic. Reynolds's vibrant social history, based on official papers, letters, diaries, memoirs and interviews, captures the GIs and Brits in their wartime moment together, mirroring the contrasts between their two countries. His purview is sweeping; he pays prolonged attention to Anglo-American romance in a way that eschews Glenn Miller sentimentality. Reynolds is frank about out-of-wedlock maternities, venereal disease and the racial aspect of relations between British women and black GIs. He goes on to discuss the surge in Anglo-American marriages during the final months of the war, then explores the culture shock British war brides felt in the States and black GIs' difficulties reaccommodating themselves to racism at home after their hospitable treatment overseas. Author of Britannia Overruled, Reynolds directs the history program at Christ's College, Cambridge, England. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Critique de Kirkus
The American ``occupation'' of Britain during WW II--the phrase is George Orwell's--could have been a disaster but, in the event, was almost a triumph. As Reynolds (History/Cambridge Univ.; co-author of An Ocean Apart, not reviewed) points out, by D-Day there were 1,650,000 members of the US armed forces on an overcrowded island. The bulk of the 426,000 American airmen were in Norfolk and Suffolk; it was as if 130 air bases had been dropped down in the state of Vermont. GIs received three times the pay of British soldiers. Many of the British men were away, their wives and girlfriends alone, and the US troops rich and available--hence the contemporary cliché that the Yanks were ``oversexed, overpaid, overfed, and over here.'' Less familiar, writes Reynolds, was the GIs' riposte, that the British were ``undersexed, underpaid, underfed, and under Eisenhower.'' The Americans also brought with them their own unresolved social problems: Less than five percent of the black soldiers had voted in the previous five years, and for all the concern of Roosevelt and Eisenhower, the armed forces still practiced de facto racial segregation. British and American attitudes to prostitution and venereal disease were very different. The British viewed these not as matters of public health but of personal privacy, into which the state should not venture. To the Americans, a VD rate of 58 cases per 1,000 troops was unacceptable. Despite all these potential sources of serious friction, the British military historian Liddell Hart ``could not `think of any case in history' where relations between occupier and occupied had been so good.'' The credit goes partly to the British themselves, who made significant concessions, partly to the good humor of both peoples, and partly to the example of Eisenhower himself, who in this, as in other matters, appears in retrospect a gifted leader. Reynolds brings good judgment, humor, and a deep knowledge of the United States as well as Britain to bear in this perceptive account of a little noticed aspect of the ``special relationship.''
Critique de Booklist
Jealous Britishers complained that the three million American soldiers quartered among them were "oversexed, overpaid, overfed, and over here," a quotation that every review of Reynolds' excellent study will be reciting. So let's pass from the obligatory repetition to declare his meticulously researched work an astute, engaging examination of the complicated social history of the U.S. Army's three-year encampment on England's green swards. The prominent theme Reynolds conveys is that despite the talk of consanguinity and a special relationship, the two peoples were astonishingly ignorant of each other. Aristocrats could barely abide what they regarded as the coarse culture of the "invaders," while GIs felt the British were hopelessly class-ridden. Americans' racial segregation confounded the British, and their unquenchable thirst for sex, sex, sex raised the animosity level even further. The subsidiary motif concerns the officers' efforts to control the teeming troops who were bored waiting for the cross-channel attack; numerous incidents resulted in courts-martial or cover-ups. Reynolds' study of soldier-civilian relations, a neglected subject heretofore, stands out among the many titles released to coincide with the war's fiftieth anniversary. As did Ambrose's D-Day [BKL Ap 1 94], it will keenly interest vets who were there. ~--Gilbert Taylor
Critique de Choice
Reynolds, the doyen of Anglo-American historians, goes beyond standard metaphors about the WW II "special relationship" between the US and Britain in this remarkable book. Conventional accounts of the US presence in wartime Britain are usually based on the British saying "Overpaid, oversexed, and over here." Reynolds counters that in reality, it was the GI ditty, "Underpaid, undersexed, and under Eisenhower" that can truly explain the significance of the American occupation of Britain. He presents a compelling argument that the Americans were an army of occupation, albeit in a friendly nation. Thanks to General Marshall, American GI's had all the comforts of home as they interacted with the British population, suffering from the deprivations of war. The impact of American consumer culture in the midst of wartime Britain was profound, including a long-term process of "Americanization" that is still visible. Complementing research in Anglo-American archives, Reynolds also mines the historical sociology on military occupation, yet never loses the human dimension of the story. This book is certain to provide a starting point for future research. Highly recommended for specialists, college students, and general readers. F. Krome; Northern Kentucky University
Critique du Library Journal
Whether praised as saviors of the Western Alliance or castigated as "overpaid, oversexed, and over here," the American forces that overwhelmed Britain in World War II have been a stable item of military folklore ever since. There was more to the situation than a quaint culture clash, however, and both nations had to work hard to maintain an amicable wartime relationship. British historian Reynolds has performed the first in-depth analysis of the American GI's impact on his war-stressed host. A longtime student of Anglo-American relations, Reynolds deftly examines each group's social mores and class structure and shows how each was operating under highly unnatural conditions. His well-researched study of the racial situation alone makes the book valuable to modern readers. Although not popular history in the usual sense, this book is readable and anecdotal enough for the average military enthusiast. Recommended for military and historical collections.-Raymond L. Puffer, U.S. Air Force History Prog., Edwards AFB, Cal. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.