Well, this kind of book is the reason why I read contemporaneously-written history: it's much more effective at translating the weight of events without the overly morbid backwards-looking feel of secondary histories. White did a great job of giving Americans a taste of Blitzed London and what life was like for regular Britishers. Knowing that he was writing for an American audience that was divided between isolationism, some Antisemitism, and ignorance about what was happening over in Europe, I could feel his anger. He very directly derides his countrymen for sitting back (at their bridge tables) and admiring the bombed-out British from an ocean away, without sending any real help.

The Margaret O'Brien movie of the same name is extremely good, although it changed a significant part of the ending for Hollywood's benefit (and Good. Lord. that girl was aDORable). Big recommend for both. ( )