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27%OFFClair Wills - Lovers and Strangers: An Immigrant History of Post-War Britain - 9780141974972 - V9780141974972
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Lovers and Strangers: An Immigrant History of Post-War Britain

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Description for Lovers and Strangers: An Immigrant History of Post-War Britain paperback. BIC Classification: HBTB. Dimension: 198 x 129. .
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2018 TLS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017 'Generous and empathetic ... opens up postwar migration in all its richness' Sukhdev Sandhu, Guardian 'Groundbreaking, sophisticated, original, open-minded ... 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 'Lyrical, full of wise and original observations' David Goodhart, The Times The battered and exhausted Britain of 1945 was desperate for workers - to rebuild, to fill the factories, to make the new NHS work. From all over the world and with many motives, 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. As Britain picked itself up again in the 1950s migrants set about changing life in their own image, through music, clothing, food, religion, but also fighting racism and casual and not so casual violence. Lovers and Strangers is an extremely important book, one that is full of enjoyable surprises, giving a voice to a generation who had to deal with the reality of life surrounded by 'white strangers' in their new country.

Product Details

Publisher
Penguin
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2018
Condition
New
Number of Pages
464
Place of Publication
London, United Kingdom
ISBN
9780141974972
SKU
V9780141974972
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 5 to 9 working days
Ref
99-99

About Clair Wills
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.

Reviews for Lovers and Strangers: An Immigrant History of Post-War Britain
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
The perfect post-Brexit book
Arifa Akbar
Evening Standard
What you get in Lovers and Strangers is a mix of oral history, scholarly analysis and impressionistic essay
Clive Davis
The Times
Her well-written, readable story evolves like a novel or film script with key characters.
Times Higher Education Masterful... these are the stories of Britain's yesterdays, todays and tomorrows, and they could hardly be more timely.
Christopher Kissane
Financial Times
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
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
A lyrical account... deeply researched and full of wise and original observations about migration
David Goodhart
The Times

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


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