American Option : And, Yes, I Almost Became an American

Threading through the events of one war, World War II, is a plain tale of a child evacuee escaping the London blitz and perhaps worse, if the imminence of invasion by gloating shock troops of Nazi elite is taken into account. And we see how children, a nation''s heritage, are suddenly remembered by postwar writers. In that context, the story raises questions posed by history. The story''s main title is chosen for two reasons. America no longer feels insecurely isolationist. Just less secure. In a world where national boundaries increasingly count for little more than lines on a map, its child population could also suffer evacuation to safer zones if a land war affected the country internally. For nothing now is beyond imagination in terms of terrorism in the name of culture, not a country. The second reason: As a child evacuee to America in a global political climate not unlike the present, the author chose an option. He would avoid the horrors which ultimately proved the lot of Europe''s children had Britain not missed being overrun by a whisker. Winston Churchill, hesitated over relinquishing British children to different cultures. Visiting New York three weeks after ''nine-eleven''; aware of the city''s spontaneous official and citizen response among numbing scenes, was to return to the London blitz, to the 1940s even the smell was there. This is a story about courage and a family''s ultimate triumph.