Our City: Migrants and the Making of Modern Birmingham

by Jon Bloomfield

Our Migrants and the Making of Modern Birmingham explores how one of Britain s major cities has been transformed for the better by its migrant population. Based on original interviews, this book tells the story of fifty migrants to Birmingham from all walks of first and second generation; men and women; from thirteen different countries ranging from Ireland to India, Pakistan to Poland, the Caribbean to Somalia. While Brexit and the dangers of Islamist extremism are being used to reassert a closed British identity, these tales of perseverance highlight the variety of migrant experience and provide an antidote to the fear-mongering of the tabloid press. This positive story of integration is all too rarely told, and it offers a firm defense of the principles of equality and increased diversity. Our City shows why mixed, open societies are the way forward for twenty-first-century cities, and how migrants help modern Britain not only survive, but prosper.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

Published March 7, 2019