Immigration and the Making of Modern Britain

Immigration and the Making of Modern Britain provides a new vision of how Britain was remade by immigration, and how the experiences and identities of migrants were transformed by broader changes in British society and culture. Over seven chapters covering a number of case studies ranging from Irish immigrants to the South Asian diaspora, Laurence Brown foregrounds his detailed analysis of the dynamics of Britain's industrial economy, shifts in national and local politics, urban reforms, and demographic and cultural change to show how all these factors shaped the contours of the assimilation and exclusion faced by immigrants. The book emphasizes the internal diversity of the Irish, Jewish, Caribbean, African and Asian diasporas in Britain through analyzing their diverging mobilities, transnational networks and experiences of settlement. It explores how the claiming of collective identities by immigrants was articulated within changing political and economic environments and also charts how the meanings of ethnicity, segregation and integration have been constantly remade both by new arrivals and their hosts. Accessible and original, Immigration and the Making of Modern Britain is an important contribution to the study of modern British history.