Migrants cuts through the toxic debates to tell the rich and
collective stories of humankind's urge to move.
'Fascinating... Miller's perspective may be just what we need' Daily
Telegraph
'Timely and empathetic: a rare combination on this most controversial
issue' Remi Adekoya, author of Biracial Britain
'Tremendous: blends the personal and the panoramic to great effect'
Robert Winder, author of Bloody Foreigners
Humans are, in fundamental ways, a migratory species, more so than any
other land mammal. For most of our existence, we were all nomads, and
some of us still are. Houses and permanent settlements are a relatively
late development - dating back little more than twelve thousand years.
Borders and passports are much more recent. From the Neanderthals,
Alexander the Great, Christopher Columbus and Pocahontas to the African
slave trade, Fu Manchu, and Barack Obama, Migrants shows us that it is
only by understanding how migration and migrants have been viewed in the
past, that we can re-set the terms of the modern-day debate about
migration.
Migrants presents us with an alternative history of the world, in
which migration is restored to the heart of the human story. And in
which humans migrate for a wide range of reasons: not just because of
civil war, or poverty or climate change but also out of curiosity and a
sense of adventure. On arrival, migrants are expected both to assimilate
and encouraged to remain distinctive; to defend their heritage and adopt
a new one. They are sub-human and super-human; romanticised and
castigated, admired and abhorred. Migrants tells us that this is not a
new narrative; this is the history of us all, part of everybody's
backstory - for those who consider themselves migrants and those who do
not.
