Migration
Last updated: March 11, 2024
Migration is one of the great humanitarian issues of our age and our interviews recommend books that cover the subject in all its complexity and place the issue in its economic, historical and social context.
In terms of the economic effects of migration, South African economist Professor Ian Goldin of the University of Oxford talks us through books on the economic impact of immigration, including a key textbook. Having more people is key for a country to prosper, so whatever populist politicians might say, from an economic perspective immigration is a good thing.
Of course migration is about much more than just economics and we have a number of interviews and book recommendations dedicated to refugees and, in particular, the crisis that erupted after the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011. We even have an interview with Patrick Kingsley, a journalist who covered the crisis, conducted by Ziad Ghandour, a refugee from Damascus. Ziad worked for Five Books before joining the BBC. The President of the International Rescue Committee—and former British politician—David Miliband also chooses his best books on refugees and talks about the challenges of global migration.
A lot of our migration coverage focuses on the United States, where millions of immigrants live and work without a path to citizenship. Stanford historian Ana Minian chooses her best books on immigration from an American perspective, discussing the extent to which the US is a nation of immigrants and puts current debates about the subject in some historical context. Professor Ruth Gomberg-Munoz of the University of Illinois at Chicago talks about America’s undocumented workers, and discusses the mutual dependence of slums and “urban glamour zones”.
Turning to the UK, where 'multiculturalism' is the word that stands for the complex relationship between a country's perceived national identity and how that interacts with people who arrive and do things differently, sociologist Tariq Modood talks about books to read about multiculturalism. In this own book, Multiculturalism, he argues that multiculturalism provides a solution to many of today's problems. We also have British journalist David Goodhart talking about the experience of immigration and multiculturalism in Britain and what helps multiculturalism succeed or fail. Goodhart shot to prominence in 2004 when he published in an article "Too Diverse?" in the ideas magazine he founded and was editor of at the time, Prospect. He expanded these ideas in a book, The British Dream, and continues to represent the anti-immigration stance in public debate.
Although many of our interviews on migration include recommendations of fiction or beautifully-written memoirs, we also have interviews dedicated to the literary angle. Novelist Mohsin Hamid chooses his best books of transnational literature, while literature professor Claudia Sadowski-Smith recommends her favourite 'border stories.'
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1
The Aeneid (Robert Fitzgerald translation)
by Virgil -
2
The Silver Sword
by Ian Serraillier -
3
Border Vigils: Keeping Migrants Out of the Rich World
by Jeremy Harding -
4
The Lightless Sky: My Journey to Safety as a Child Refugee
by Gulwali Passarlay -
5
Violent Borders: Refugees and the Right to Move
by Reece Jones
The best books on Refugees, recommended by Patrick Kingsley
The best books on Refugees, recommended by Patrick Kingsley
Having trouble getting your head around the refugee crisis? New York Times reporter Patrick Kingsley, formerly the Guardian’s migration correspondent, chooses the best books on refugees. He explains his choices to Ziad Ghandour, himself a refugee from Syria.
The Best Transnational Literature, recommended by Mohsin Hamid
Beleaguered ‘citizens of nowhere’ will be pleased to know they have their own literary genre. For anyone who has ever wondered where they belong, or why, when you leave your home country, it’s never the same when you return, here are the best five books to read—including some by the greatest authors of the 20th century.
Children’s Books About the Refugee Crisis, recommended by Gill Lewis
How can parents even begin to explain the refugee crisis to children and young adults? Here, award-winning children’s author Gill Lewis shares her selection of vital primers – from simple picture books to challenging graphic novels – and discusses the role of ‘informed storytelling’ in describing this fraught and fragile human experience
The best books on Immigration, recommended by Ian Goldin
What are the economic effects of immigration? Economist Ian Goldin, a professor at Oxford University and founding director of the Oxford Martin School, recommends books and explains.
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Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948
by Madeleine Albright -
2
City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World's Largest Refugee Camp
by Ben Rawlence -
3
The New Threat from Islamic Militancy
by Jason Burke -
4
Not in God's Name: Confronting Religious Violence
by Jonathan Sacks -
5
Little Bee: A Novel
by Chris Cleave
The best books on Refugees, recommended by David Miliband
The best books on Refugees, recommended by David Miliband
One out of every 122 people in the world today is displaced by conflict. David Miliband, president of the IRC, chooses five books to help us think constructively about refugees and the causes of the current crisis.
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Travelling While Black: Essays Inspired by a Life on the Move
by Nanjala Nyabola -
2
The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move
by Sonia Shah -
3
Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America
by Mae M. Ngai -
4
Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism
by Harsha Walia -
5
Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda
by Jean Guerrero
The best books on Immigration and Race, recommended by Reece Jones
The best books on Immigration and Race, recommended by Reece Jones
In a series of books, Reece Jones, Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Hawaii, has explored the impact of borders on our lives. In his latest book, White Borders, he delves into the history of immigration and race in the United States, and explains the connection between the two. Here, he recommends the best books he’s read on the topic and explains why he’s not optimistic about the future.
Books on the Refugee Experience, recommended by Shahram Khosravi
To understand what makes integration fail or succeed we need to know why migrants moved in the first place, says Shahram Khosravi, Professor of Social Anthropology at Stockholm University and author of Young and Defiant in Tehran and ‘Illegal’ Traveller.
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Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race
by Matthew Frye Jacobson -
2
Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America
by Mae M. Ngai -
3
Between Two Empires: Race, History, and Transnationalism in Japanese America
by Eiichiro Azuma -
4
Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity
by David G. Gutiérrez -
5
Havana USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida, 1959-1994
by María Cristina García
The best books on Immigration, recommended by Ana Minian
The best books on Immigration, recommended by Ana Minian
How did the concept of United States immigration being a ‘melting pot’ of diverse nationalities come to be? In this interview, Stanford historian Ana Raquel Minian explores America’s complex, highly racialized history of immigration and recommends five of the books on the subject that have most influenced her.
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1
No Man's Land: Jamaican Guestworkers in America and the Global History of Deportable Labor
by Cindy Hahamovitch -
2
Defiant Braceros: How Migrant Workers Fought for Racial, Sexual, and Political Freedom
by Mireya Loza -
3
Managed Migrations: Growers, Farmworkers, and Border Enforcement in the Twentieth Century
by Cristina Salinas -
4
Migrant Citizenship: Race, Rights, and Reform in the U.S. Farm Labor Camp Program
by Verónica Martínez-Matsuda -
5
The Nature of California: Race, Citizenship, and Farming since the Dust Bowl
by Sarah Wald
The best books on Migrant Workers, recommended by Mireya Loza
The best books on Migrant Workers, recommended by Mireya Loza
American society and American history marginalized migrant workers for too long. New scholarship shows that migrant workers were central to America’s cultural and economic development. Mireya Loza, a historian at Georgetown University and author of Defiant Braceros, talks us through the best books about migrant workers—and why their stories are integral to understanding the past and present of United States.
Border Stories, recommended by Claudia Sadowski-Smith
National borders are fertile territory for fiction, says literature professor Claudia Sadowski-Smith. She recommends five novels about migration and border crossings.
