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Migrants cuts through the toxic debates to tell the rich and collective stories of humankinds urge to move

Fascinating Millers perspective may be just what we need Daily Telegraph
Enjoyable provocative and timely Spectator
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 reset the terms of the modernday 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 subhuman and superhuman 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 everybodys backstory for those who consider themselves migrants and those who do not