Multicultural Britain: A People's History

Between the end of the Second World War and the first decades of the twenty-first century, Britain became multicultural. This book tells the remarkable story of how that came about. 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. He also shines a light on the shifting nature of British racism, revealing the day-to-day effects it had—and still has—on ethnic minority groups.

Journeying far beyond London, Multicultural Britain delves into the messy contradictions at the heart of a country’s transition into the diverse society we know today. It highlights the vital role of ordinary people in the making of multicultural Britain, and takes aim at public leaders, from Enoch Powell to Harold Wilson to Margaret Thatcher, who have too often legitimised racism for their own political ends.

In post-Brexit Britain, between Black Lives Matter and anxieties around immigration, how communities and individuals live together remains one of the most urgent issues of our time. Connell offers a fresh perspective on British multiculturalism as a rich and complex lived reality—not simply as a problematic idea.