Lovers and Strangers: An Immigrant History of Post-War Britain

(Paperback)

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Description

The acclaimed history of the immigrants who made modern Britain, now in paperback The battered and exhausted Britain of 1945 was desperate for workers. From all over the world thousands of individuals took the plunge. Most assumed they would spend just three or four years here, sending most of their pay back home, but instead large numbers stayed - and transformed the country. Drawing on an amazing array of unusual and surprising sources, Clair Wills' wonderful new book brings to life the incredible diversity and strangeness of the migrant experience. She introduces us to lovers, scroungers, dancers, homeowners, teachers, drinkers, carers and many more to show the opportunities and excitement as much as the humiliation and poverty that could be part of the new arrivals' experience. Irish, Bengalis, West Indians, Poles, Maltese, Punjabis and Cypriots battled to fit into an often shocked Britain and, to their own surprise, found themselves making permanent homes.

Reviews

A lyrical account... deeply researched and full of wise and original observations about migration -- David Goodhart * The Times *
Strangers and Lovers is brimming with new archival sources, careful cullings of governmental documents and oral histories - the book encompasses poetry and fiction as well as sociological accounts. -- Sukhdev Sandhu * Guardian *
Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand not only the transformation of British society after the war but also its character today -- Piers Brendon * Literary Review *
Masterful... these are the stories of Britain's yesterdays, todays and tomorrows, and they could hardly be more timely. -- Christopher Kissane * Financial Times *
Her well-written, readable story evolves like a novel or film script with key characters. -- Times Higher Education
What you get in Lovers and Strangers is a mix of oral history, scholarly analysis and impressionistic essay -- Clive Davis * The Times *
The perfect post-Brexit book -- Arifa Akbar * Evening Standard *
Lovers and Strangers presents a historically rich view of immigration to Britain. Wills writes with both humour and detail about the lives of thousands of single men from Poland, Ireland, the West Indies and South Asia. Many of her tales are filled with the music, alcohol and nightlife which occupied the attentions of thousands of single men -- Burhan Wazir * Chatham House *

Author Bio

Clair Wills is a critic and cultural historian. She is the author of That Neutral island- A History of Ireland during the Second World War, which won the PEN Hessell-Tiltman History Prize, Dublin 1916- The Siege of the GPO, and The Best Are Leaving- Emigration and Post-War Irish Culture. She teaches at Princeton University and divides her time between the United States and Europe.