Rich Relations:: The American Occupation of Britain, 1942-1945

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.)