Good-bye, Piccadilly : British war brides in America / Jenel Virden.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Virden, Jenel.

Series:

Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Centennial series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Women--Great Britain.

World War, 1939-1945.

War brides--Great Britain--History--20th century.

War brides.

Women immigrants--United States--History--20th century.

Women immigrants.

British Americans--Cultural assimilation.

British Americans.

Assimilation (Sociology).

History.

United States.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xii, 177 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Urbana : University of Illinois Press, [1996]

Summary:

As much of the world tried to return to normal living and working patterns after World War II, some 70,000 British women chose to be uprooted from the homeland they knew and loved. These were British war brides, a uniformly young group who by marrying American servicemen became part of the largest single group of female immigrants to the United States. Though the women came to the U.S. from all parts of the British Isles, they were an unusually homogeneous group, averaging 23 years of age, from working- or lower-middle-class families and having completed mandatory schooling to the age of fourteen. For the most part they emigrated alone and didn't move into an existing immigrant population. Jenel Virden draws on records in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and the Public Record Office in London, as well as questionnaires and personal interviews, in relating the women's story. Virden finds that the marriages actually took place in spite of, rather than because of, the war. And, while the women benefited from special nonrestrictive immigration legislation - and found public welcomes and a good deal of favorable publicity when they arrived - they also had much in common with other immigrant groups, including a strong sense of ethnic identity.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [169]-172) and index.

ISBN:

0252022254

025206528X

OCLC:

32666070