Multicultural Britain

Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize ‘Written with verve and passion.' — Johny Pitts ‘A worthwhile read on a topic that will remain at the heart of public debate in Britain.’ — The Irish Times A new history of personal and community relationships across post- imperial Britain, from 1940s Cardiff to the millennial Midlands. Between the end of the Second World War and the early twenty-first century, Britain became multicultural. This vivid book tells that remarkable story. Kieran Connell, an historian of Irish and German heritage who grew up in Balsall Heath, inner-city Birmingham, takes readers into multicultural communities across Britain at key moments in their development. Journeying far beyond London, Multicultural Britain explores the messy contradictions of the country’s transition into today’s diverse society. It reveals the ordinary people who have forged Britain’s multiculturalism; skewers public leaders, from Enoch Powell to Harold Wilson to Margaret Thatcher, who have too often weaponised race for their own political ends; and shines a light on the shifting nature of British racism, revealing its enduring day-to-day impact on ethnic-minority groups. Between postcolonial reckonings and immigration anxieties, how people live together in Brexit Britain remains an urgent question for our time. Connell’s fresh, thought-provoking book unveils British multiculturalism not as a problematic idea, but as a rich and complex lived reality. A new history of how we became multicultural, revealing the personal and community relationships that underpin Britain’s post-imperial transition Journeys far beyond London to look at communities throughout Britain Offers a fresh perspective on multiculturalism that highlights the rich and varied nature of the lived reality rather than theorising about an idea