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Lovers and Strangers: An Immigrant History of Post-War Britain
LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2018
TLS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017
'Generous and empathetic ... opens up postwar migration in all its richness' Sukhdev Sandhu, Guardian
'Groundbreaking, sophisticated, original, open-minded ... essential reading for anyone who wants to understand not only the transformation of British society after the war but also its character today' Piers Brendon, Literary Review
'Lyrical, full of wise and original observations' David Goodhart, The Times
The battered and exhausted Britain of 1945 was desperate for workers - to rebuild, to fill the factories, to make the new NHS work. From all over the world and with many motives, thousands of individuals took the plunge. Most assumed they would spend just three or four years here, sending most of their pay back home, but instead large numbers stayed - and transformed the country.
Drawing on an amazing array of unusual and surprising sources, Clair Wills' wonderful new book brings to life the incredible diversity and strangeness of the migrant experience. She introduces us to lovers, scroungers, dancers, homeowners, teachers, drinkers, carers and many more to show the opportunities and excitement as much as the humiliation and poverty that could be part of the new arrivals' experience. Irish, Bengalis, West Indians, Poles, Maltese, Punjabis and Cypriots battled to fit into an often shocked Britain and, to their own surprise, found themselves making permanent homes. As Britain picked itself up again in the 1950s migrants set about changing life in their own image, through music, clothing, food, religion, but also fighting racism and casual and not so casual violence.
Lovers and Strangers is an extremely important book, one that is full of enjoyable surprises, giving a voice to a generation who had to deal with the reality of life surrounded by 'white strangers' in their new country.
TLS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017
'Generous and empathetic ... opens up postwar migration in all its richness' Sukhdev Sandhu, Guardian
'Groundbreaking, sophisticated, original, open-minded ... essential reading for anyone who wants to understand not only the transformation of British society after the war but also its character today' Piers Brendon, Literary Review
'Lyrical, full of wise and original observations' David Goodhart, The Times
The battered and exhausted Britain of 1945 was desperate for workers - to rebuild, to fill the factories, to make the new NHS work. From all over the world and with many motives, thousands of individuals took the plunge. Most assumed they would spend just three or four years here, sending most of their pay back home, but instead large numbers stayed - and transformed the country.
Drawing on an amazing array of unusual and surprising sources, Clair Wills' wonderful new book brings to life the incredible diversity and strangeness of the migrant experience. She introduces us to lovers, scroungers, dancers, homeowners, teachers, drinkers, carers and many more to show the opportunities and excitement as much as the humiliation and poverty that could be part of the new arrivals' experience. Irish, Bengalis, West Indians, Poles, Maltese, Punjabis and Cypriots battled to fit into an often shocked Britain and, to their own surprise, found themselves making permanent homes. As Britain picked itself up again in the 1950s migrants set about changing life in their own image, through music, clothing, food, religion, but also fighting racism and casual and not so casual violence.
Lovers and Strangers is an extremely important book, one that is full of enjoyable surprises, giving a voice to a generation who had to deal with the reality of life surrounded by 'white strangers' in their new country.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published August 31, 2017
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782 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
September 16, 2018
Impeccably researched, thoughtfully argued and well-crafted, the problem with Clair Wills's account of immigration in post-war Britain is that the germs of interesting stories are told in a somewhat dry, formulaic and academic style; in a book which is fundamentally about the emotional impact of immigration, mainly on the immigrants themselves, but also on the indigenous population. However, Will's style does not lend itself well to presenting the journey's the individuals or groups which Wills describes went through. So whether it be the Polish immigrants who were interred in Iran and South America, the taboo breaking interracial relationships between West Indian and British women, the lachrymose, lonely and homesick Irish immigrants or the immigrants from the Indian sub-continent who sought to echo the British culture they were attempting to integrate in so much that even parroted the gangsterism of the British underclasses.
However Wills is able to present a number of little-know and well researched facts, especially pertaining to the first wave of Commonwealth immigrants and the East European immigrants who undertook a surprising round-the-world our before arriving in Britain. Otherwise 'Lovers and Strangers' presents a cogent argument for immigration and its importance in creating a dynamic, forward-thinking society and culture; it is also a reminder of the worn-out arguments which have always driven the myopia of anti-immigrant thoughts; that immigrants are dirty criminals unable to integrate to society, that they are unrepentant ravishers of helpless local women, that they are a drain on resource and are taking local citizens jobs, or the cruder racial arguments put forward by the worst of anti-immigration movements.
However Wills is able to present a number of little-know and well researched facts, especially pertaining to the first wave of Commonwealth immigrants and the East European immigrants who undertook a surprising round-the-world our before arriving in Britain. Otherwise 'Lovers and Strangers' presents a cogent argument for immigration and its importance in creating a dynamic, forward-thinking society and culture; it is also a reminder of the worn-out arguments which have always driven the myopia of anti-immigrant thoughts; that immigrants are dirty criminals unable to integrate to society, that they are unrepentant ravishers of helpless local women, that they are a drain on resource and are taking local citizens jobs, or the cruder racial arguments put forward by the worst of anti-immigration movements.
January 18, 2019
Lovers and Strangers is an excellent social history of postwar immigrants in the UK between the late Forties to mid-Sixties. The book mainly focuses on how Caribbean, South Asian and Irish immigrants carved a place in Britain after the Second World War. Divided into largely thematic chapters covering topics such as accomodation and consumerism. Wills bookends her work by showing how immigration evolved following the end of the Second World War and the passage of the British Nationality Act of 1948 through to the Commonwealth Immigrants Acts of 1962.
Wills opines that Britain's immigration policy and concept of citizenship was built upon an idea of empire and a family of nations, which was stronger than the realities of postwar migration networks. From the beginning, Wills demonstrates how the concept of economic migrants and refugees became incredibly distorted and subject to what would currently be termed as racial profiling both in political and social terms.
While the policies were enacted in order to help recruit manpower to rebuild a shattered country and industry following the war, the willingness to give the same citizenship rights to people in the Commonwealth as people in Britain soon raised issues as white Britons became more suspicious of arrivals from the Commonwealth.
Wills neatly shows how different Commonwealth subjects appropriated and contoured ideas of citizenship into their own sense of belonging, yet at the same time were the glue financing their homeland's future, while often never being able to fully reap the benefits of their labour as they became caught between two worlds.
Wills also deftly posits how attempts to modify earlier policies to appease white Britons ultimately changed patterns of migration, which may have been unintended by legislators. In her view as immigration laws tightened and became more restrictive, migration patterns evolved from short-term, temporary stays by individual bachelors designed to fund homes and aiding families overseas to a move towards establishing more permanent communities in Britain.
Willis largely procures her primary sources from a large array of materials: novels, poems, newspapers, songs, diaries, memoirs and so forth. This enables Wills to provide a vibrant and vivid sense of both how immigrants perceived Britain and to a smaller extent how Britons perceived newcomers through exclusionary methods and paeans to a mythical imperial identity. It also allows her readers to get a deep and abiding sense of the hostilities and conflicts immigrants faced, while establishing that many of the common claims associated with immigrants employ uncannily similar language and carry the same dark undertones as those used today.
There are some minor quibbles with the book. For one it would be better retitled An Immigrant History of Post-War England. There are hardly any references to immigrants outside of England (other than brief nods to places such as Cardiff) and Wills' research centrally focuses on the three main geographic areas where immigrants resided: London, the Midlands and to a lesser extent Lancashire and Yorkshire. Wills also largely drops her initial insights into Displaced Persons midway through the book and makes almost no reference to immigrants and refugees who came to Britain from other areas affected during this period such as Hungary, Bangladesh, Kenya and Uganda.
Secondly, I think the book could have been slightly enhanced if it had incorporated more oral histories into its mix. While Wills employs a broad array of sources, her approach does limit itself to more educated individuals at the expense of individuals from countries with more oral-based traditions. Additionally, although it is understandable why this aspect is often lacking, the book could have benefited from more views from immigrant women and in particular their relationships with white Britons and perceptions of British society.
It is also curious that Wills largely opted to end her book in the early to mid-Sixties which either underplays or overlooks changes to the Commonwealth Immigration Act in 1968, as well as its follow-up legislation (Immigration Act of 1971), particularly as Britain sought to enter the European Common Market this period and placed less emphasis on its economic and historical ties to the Commonwealth.
That said Lovers and Strangers is an excellent scholarly, but approachable read, which neatly shows how both immigrants and native Britons were each tied to competing and overlapping interpretations of the past, present and future.
Wills opines that Britain's immigration policy and concept of citizenship was built upon an idea of empire and a family of nations, which was stronger than the realities of postwar migration networks. From the beginning, Wills demonstrates how the concept of economic migrants and refugees became incredibly distorted and subject to what would currently be termed as racial profiling both in political and social terms.
While the policies were enacted in order to help recruit manpower to rebuild a shattered country and industry following the war, the willingness to give the same citizenship rights to people in the Commonwealth as people in Britain soon raised issues as white Britons became more suspicious of arrivals from the Commonwealth.
Wills neatly shows how different Commonwealth subjects appropriated and contoured ideas of citizenship into their own sense of belonging, yet at the same time were the glue financing their homeland's future, while often never being able to fully reap the benefits of their labour as they became caught between two worlds.
Wills also deftly posits how attempts to modify earlier policies to appease white Britons ultimately changed patterns of migration, which may have been unintended by legislators. In her view as immigration laws tightened and became more restrictive, migration patterns evolved from short-term, temporary stays by individual bachelors designed to fund homes and aiding families overseas to a move towards establishing more permanent communities in Britain.
Willis largely procures her primary sources from a large array of materials: novels, poems, newspapers, songs, diaries, memoirs and so forth. This enables Wills to provide a vibrant and vivid sense of both how immigrants perceived Britain and to a smaller extent how Britons perceived newcomers through exclusionary methods and paeans to a mythical imperial identity. It also allows her readers to get a deep and abiding sense of the hostilities and conflicts immigrants faced, while establishing that many of the common claims associated with immigrants employ uncannily similar language and carry the same dark undertones as those used today.
There are some minor quibbles with the book. For one it would be better retitled An Immigrant History of Post-War England. There are hardly any references to immigrants outside of England (other than brief nods to places such as Cardiff) and Wills' research centrally focuses on the three main geographic areas where immigrants resided: London, the Midlands and to a lesser extent Lancashire and Yorkshire. Wills also largely drops her initial insights into Displaced Persons midway through the book and makes almost no reference to immigrants and refugees who came to Britain from other areas affected during this period such as Hungary, Bangladesh, Kenya and Uganda.
Secondly, I think the book could have been slightly enhanced if it had incorporated more oral histories into its mix. While Wills employs a broad array of sources, her approach does limit itself to more educated individuals at the expense of individuals from countries with more oral-based traditions. Additionally, although it is understandable why this aspect is often lacking, the book could have benefited from more views from immigrant women and in particular their relationships with white Britons and perceptions of British society.
It is also curious that Wills largely opted to end her book in the early to mid-Sixties which either underplays or overlooks changes to the Commonwealth Immigration Act in 1968, as well as its follow-up legislation (Immigration Act of 1971), particularly as Britain sought to enter the European Common Market this period and placed less emphasis on its economic and historical ties to the Commonwealth.
That said Lovers and Strangers is an excellent scholarly, but approachable read, which neatly shows how both immigrants and native Britons were each tied to competing and overlapping interpretations of the past, present and future.
September 14, 2022
This is a superb book looking at the experiences of immigrants to the UK from the 40s to the 60s. It includes, unusually, the experiences of groups not often these days thought of as having been immigrants, such as the Irish, Maltese, Cypriots etc.
The book looks at the early living conditions that prompted the easy, discriminatory classifying features that British people used in their reasons for disliking immigrants such as they were dirty, unhygienic or smelled. (Embarrassingly I could hear my stepfather's voice.) It also points out how discrimination smoothed out differences between groups leading to a greater cohesion when they reacted against these discriminatory practices. (As a side note it is pointed out that 80% of 'Indian' restaurants in the UK are actually Bengali.) I found fascinating how the purpose of the first legislation aimed at curbing immigration actually increased it and how it changed the nature of many immigrants intentions.
Of course, the parallels with today's Little Brexit Britain are depressing. The despicable Farage with his 'Breaking Point' poster; the attacks on 'immigrant' shops after the vote was announced; the awful Theresa May's 'Go Home Vans' patrolling 'ethnic' neighborhoods and the truly evil Pritti Patel - herself the daughter of immigrants - with her appalling attempts at crushing what she calls 'illegal immigration'.
It all belies the vision that England carries of itself as a tolerant, enlightened nation.
The book looks at the early living conditions that prompted the easy, discriminatory classifying features that British people used in their reasons for disliking immigrants such as they were dirty, unhygienic or smelled. (Embarrassingly I could hear my stepfather's voice.) It also points out how discrimination smoothed out differences between groups leading to a greater cohesion when they reacted against these discriminatory practices. (As a side note it is pointed out that 80% of 'Indian' restaurants in the UK are actually Bengali.) I found fascinating how the purpose of the first legislation aimed at curbing immigration actually increased it and how it changed the nature of many immigrants intentions.
Of course, the parallels with today's Little Brexit Britain are depressing. The despicable Farage with his 'Breaking Point' poster; the attacks on 'immigrant' shops after the vote was announced; the awful Theresa May's 'Go Home Vans' patrolling 'ethnic' neighborhoods and the truly evil Pritti Patel - herself the daughter of immigrants - with her appalling attempts at crushing what she calls 'illegal immigration'.
It all belies the vision that England carries of itself as a tolerant, enlightened nation.
January 31, 2018
Wills' politics are totally on point in this remarkably readable representation of the tremendous variety of experience of immigrating to Britain in the third quarter of the 20th century. Rather than boil down to abstraction or statistics, which in the case of immigration can be laughably meaningless, Wills foregrounds with extensive stories and anecdotes taken from archival sources, which gives a robust picture of these processes as they were lived.
Wills emphasizes the subjective experiences of immigration, showing us their vantages; their hopes, aspirations, fears, disappointments. She also takes care not to normalize rootedness, she doesn't take the tempting assumption that Britain is a settled place and immigrants are being somehow added in, or on. Rather she takes these accounts at their word, showing us the true dynamism of racial formation and adaptive resettlement strategies.
Wills emphasizes the subjective experiences of immigration, showing us their vantages; their hopes, aspirations, fears, disappointments. She also takes care not to normalize rootedness, she doesn't take the tempting assumption that Britain is a settled place and immigrants are being somehow added in, or on. Rather she takes these accounts at their word, showing us the true dynamism of racial formation and adaptive resettlement strategies.
March 14, 2021
I loved this. I was expecting a chronological history, but Wills instead organizes the book thematically in a way that really effectively centers immigrant stories. I’m not sure how to describe it but I think this book gave me a new paradigm, almost, for thinking about immigration and the UK...I’ll need to write about it and think some more, but if you’re into postwar (British) history, it’s cool.
November 1, 2018
This had some great insights but overall it was far too long and repetitive. It really needed a good edit!
March 8, 2020
A fascinating study of immigration to Britain after WW2, this book aims to tell the human story of the migrants who came to Britain in the 1950s and 60s. Some came from Commonwealth countries whose peoples had recently been given British citizenship (in the 1948 British Nationality Act), encouraged by adverts for workers to help power Britain's post-war recovery. Others were refugees who had been displaced during the war and weren't able to return to their homes in Germany, the Baltic states, Italy and elsewhere. Others (like Wills' mother) were from Ireland looking for work because there were so few jobs back home. Wills tells their stories in chapters titled East Enders, Carers, Troublemakers, Dancers etc. Rather than follow a straightforwardly linear narrative, these are like vignettes that perhaps make it easier to tell the human story. Wills includes plenty of primary source material and has clearly done a lot of research. Migrants worked in the mines, in foundries, in hospitals, building roads and canals and many other areas. They sent money back home (especially in the case of Indian and Pakistani workers), planning to return once they'd made enough money. They spent their leisure time in dance halls and the pub or in makeshift nightclubs in their homes in 'Rotting Hill'. They started newspapers and wrote programmes for the BBC (albeit programmes that were broadcast only in the Caribbean). Racism and xenophobia towards the migrants was widespread and the government only began to take action in the mid to late 1960s with the Race Relations Acts. However, this perhaps makes it all the more necessary for British people to read, especially in the light of last year's Windrush scandal. It's hard to do justice to everything this book covers. It is a really engrossing read and will enlighten anyone wanting to better understand this recent period of British history and the phenomenon of immigration more generally.
August 23, 2018
Part history and part sociology, this is the story of two decades of postwar immigration to Britain, from the perspective of the migrants. The source material is vast (poetry, fiction, government documents, newspaper reports, archives, songs) and covers in part experiences of West Indians, Poles, Latvians, Ukrainians, Italians, Maltese, Cypriots, Indians, Pakistanis and Irish migrants in the 1950s and 1960s.
Ultimately the focus ends up being more on those from the Carribean, Ireland and South Asia; whether this is because of the availability of source material or their perceived impact, I'm not sure.
It was educational and felt an especially poignant read at times when I think of Britain's imminent Exit from The European Union, and some depressing similarities in attitude, scape goating and hostility in the population.
Ultimately the focus ends up being more on those from the Carribean, Ireland and South Asia; whether this is because of the availability of source material or their perceived impact, I'm not sure.
It was educational and felt an especially poignant read at times when I think of Britain's imminent Exit from The European Union, and some depressing similarities in attitude, scape goating and hostility in the population.
March 4, 2018
This is a well-written, engaging account of the experience of moving to post-war Britain. Wills demonstrates the diversity of people that came, the jobs they did and the homes, families and lives that they built in the UK. She takes a range of places into account, both in terms of where immigrants moved from and where they moved to, and these different local contexts. Wills also moves from larger political changes to everyday life, the nation to the family, from work-place to home, the local pub or shop. A really interesting book.
June 5, 2019
Clair Wills teaches at Princeton University and in this fascinating, at times horrifying but always very human book that draws on a rich mix of sources, she describes the experiences of migrants from a range of countries and cultures arriving in Britain in the post War period and although the scope of the book means some experiences get less attention than others, there are obvious and uncomfortable parallels with today’s immigration debate.
October 27, 2020
Eye opening
This book looks at the post war immigration and the immigrants. Unlike most of what is reported or printed we see the immigrants point of view.
Unfortunately this book shows that the same lies and myths propagated today against migrants were being used then. This book paints a picture of the fears,hopes, apprehensions of people who left all that was familiar and embarked on the journey to a country that was ambivalent about their presence.
This book looks at the post war immigration and the immigrants. Unlike most of what is reported or printed we see the immigrants point of view.
Unfortunately this book shows that the same lies and myths propagated today against migrants were being used then. This book paints a picture of the fears,hopes, apprehensions of people who left all that was familiar and embarked on the journey to a country that was ambivalent about their presence.
December 28, 2018
Brilliantly written, essential reading on post-war immigration. The focus is mainly on the 50s and 60s, it is not London centric and it does not focus solely focus on one group of immigrants so paints a well rounded picture.
February 13, 2021
I always hear about Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood” speech as moment key to understanding Britain’s relationship with immigrants; this insightful book fills in some of the gaps regarding what happened in the decades leading up to that moment.
February 7, 2024
Engaging, but a little repetitive, and doesn’t spend enough time exploring each subsection of migrant life imo. More of a general history to get people interested in further research, which is a great thing!
February 18, 2018
Brilliant book with many wonderful words on the experiences of migration. Highly recommended.
August 25, 2020
A social and oral history of immigrant life in the UK between the late 1940s and early 1970s, arranged by broad theme, and with little in the way of grand narrative. I enjoyed it.
November 6, 2022
Fascinating insights into the everyday lives of immigrants to the UK in the post-WWII era.
Read
November 11, 2023Plus ça change, plus ça la même chose. (Other than the end of the use of the word ‘miscegenation’, more or less).
February 15, 2025
Brilliant social history of migration and UK
October 10, 2019
A great book providing an interesting insight into post-war immigration to Britain.
The writing is great, as it is not too clunky or boring which is a problem I keep on finding with non-fiction books as it can lead to the book being hard to read, sounding rather boring or both.
The writing is great, as it is not too clunky or boring which is a problem I keep on finding with non-fiction books as it can lead to the book being hard to read, sounding rather boring or both.
December 22, 2025
Clever approach centring on the experience of individual migrants from different countries of origin whilst, at the same time, demonstrating similarities between European, Irish, Caribbean and Punjabi experiences of migrating to Britain. Although arranged by theme (lovers, strangers etc.) it's a fairly chronological account between the 1940s and late 1960s, which reveals the changing political response to immigration - from encouraging it to rebuild the post-war economy through to effectively outlawing it from 'coloured' commonwealth countries. An impressive work that could have many volumes, serving as an introduction to immigration in post-war Britain, with relevance to today.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews