People with short memories might believe that Britain and America are destined to be friends: allies in two world wars, NATO partners, cultural links and so on. But it was never that simple. The picture of British‐American amity ignores the tensions between the two countries. They surfaced over a number of issues, notably Britain's imperial position, which America never liked, and America's frustration over Britain's refusal to cast in its lot with western Europe. There have also been critical moments when the disagreements were very sharp indeed: the destroyers‐for‐bases deal in 1940, the international loan of 1946, Suez in 1956, Vietnam 1966, Grenada in 1983. In Victorian times, relations between the two countries were usually distant, never warm. The USA and Britain were rivals on the Canadian border, Britain's stance during the American Civil War was equivocal and, by the 1890s, American exporters were straining every nerve to make inroads into British markets. Just after the Great War a member of the British naval staff was heard to say “That's got rid of the Germans, now let's deal with the Americans!”
The more one looks into it, the less special the “special relationship” seems to be. From a British standpoint, it would be more accurate to see America as another foreign country pursuing its own interests, just as the British do, and lining up with Britain as and when it suited. As for today: now that Russia has turned over a new leaf and China has become the West's banker instead of the USA, the glue holding Britain and America together might prove to be thinner than ever.
The modern trend in reference books seems to be away from multi‐volume sets on broad fields; the new style is for smaller books covering narrower subjects. Publishers no doubt hope it will promote their sales but users might find themselves hopping from one of the new style dictionaries to another and dislike the inconvenience of it. Be that as it may, here comes another specialist reference book.
This is volume 10 in a series from Scarecrow Press on American diplomacy. It is a modest volume in a small octavo format. The layout of the contents is conventional, the main part being a single sequence of articles from A to Z. This sequence makes up two‐thirds of the book. It is sandwiched between some pieces of supplementary material: in front there is a chronology and an introduction; at the end there are four appendices on the key personnel in the story and a useful 40‐page bibliography.
At the very end I expected to find an index but I was disappointed. Of course, one might say that the A to Z entries are a sort of index, and so they are. But no alphabetical sequence can cover everything. An index is still necessary to find terms, persons or events which do not merit an entry per se but which might be covered somewhere else. Allow me to illustrate the point. I wanted to look up the Oregon Treaty of 1846 between Britain and the USA. This was signed for America by President James Knox Polk. It divided Oregon territory along the 49th parallel. Now Sylvia Ellis has no article on Polk or Oregon so what does one do? One uses an index. This simple addition would have enlarged the value of her work.
Apart from the index problem, the Historical Dictionary of Anglo‐American Relations is easy to use. Readers are alerted to other articles by the use of heavy, black type. Entries are short, some of them a few lines long, and there are very few articles of more than a page. For me, one hallmark of a good reference book is the provision of further reading at the end of each article. Dr Ellis does not offer that but the classified booklist at the end goes part of way to rectifying it.
Let us now get to the contents. I assume that this short reference work was entirely written by Dr Sylvia Ellis. She is not named as “editor” and no other contributors are mentioned. So both the strengths and weaknesses of the book are down to her. Inevitably most of Dr Ellis's attention goes to politics. There is some early politics like the Sugar Act and the Tea Act and the inevitable reference to the Mayflower. There are also articles on extremely recent events: Iraq and Afghanistan are here, David Miliband is mentioned as (UK) Foreign Secretary. In between, the main events are dealt with: both world wars, the interwar years, the cold war and recent embroilments are all covered fairly well. In general we get a good mixture of persons, treaties, conferences, laws, battles, policies and great events. Some entries cannot be categorized like the item on War Brides.
Dr Ellis also devotes some attention to the cultural side of Anglo‐American relations, although this mainly consists of famous persons. We have entries about British people who made their lives in America, Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin; about Americans who made their lives in Britain: Henry James, Sam Wanamaker and Bill Bryson. Some Britons are included who did well in America but remained firmly identified with the UK: the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Noel Coward. Other people are included for their influence: Elvis Presley certainly had influence although he landed in the UK only once, changing planes at Prestwick Airport in 1960. He never toured Britain. For some reason Duke Ellington is also covered although I would not have thought he stands out among popular bandleaders.
Some prime entries had been left out. One might start with Benjamin Franklin who lived in London in the 1750s and 1760s. Another frequent visitor was Billy Graham, the evangelical preacher. Some Americans became permanent adornments to British life: surely Yehudi Menuhin deserves to be covered. He was a naturalized Briton, he became a life peer and founded a music school in Surrey. The film and music industries should also be noticed. Most British people know America through its films and music. The familiarity bred by sitcoms like Sergeant Bilko, MASH, Friends and Cheers is all part of what the political scientists call “soft power”. Apart from that, some of the economic links should be explored: what about some entries on McDonalds, Coca‐Cola, Scotch whisky, Rolls‐Royce, Hoover, Ford and Vauxhall, trade and the media in general.
This is a workmanlike book, which has its place in Anglo‐American studies. It has real but limited value. Personally, I would have liked longer, more detailed articles and a more thorough book. I found the whole product rather lightweight. However, Scarecrow may have imposed limitations on the author to ensure that this volume resembled the others in the series. It is very well made, printed on good paper and sewn. Readers may like to note that the book is available online. The high cover price of the hard copy might make an electronic version better value.
