Good-bye, Piccadilly: BRITISH WAR BRIDES IN AMERICA (Statue of Liberty Ellis Island)
The daughter of a World War II British war bride, Virden has penned a work about the experiences of this overlooked category of immigrants to the United States. Instead of a personal narrative, she has chosen to write a dispassionate analysis of the phenomenon based upon her study of archival material, statistics, questionnaires, and selective interviews. The result is informative but not very involving. That the war brides made huge sacrifices in leaving their homeland to begin new lives with men they hardly knew, that they overcame a mountain of red tape, culture shock, and a degree of anti-British prejudice, and that they felt lost between two worlds are predictable conclusions that need little quantitative substantiation. In-depth case studies or lengthy interviews, rather than the occasional anecdote, could have brought these generalized findings to life. While valuable for sociologists and other academics, this work will have little appeal in public libraries.?Rose M. Cichy, Osterhout Free Lib., Wilkes-Barre, Pa.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.