This timely history explores the entry, reception and resettlement of refugees across twentieth-century Britain. Focusing on four cohorts of refugees – Jewish and other refugees from Nazism; Hungarians in 1956; Ugandan Asians expelled by Idi Amin; and Vietnamese 'boat people' who arrived in the wake of the fall of Saigon – Becky Taylor deftly integrates refugee history with key themes in the history of modern Britain. She thus demonstrates how refugees' experiences, rather than being marginal, were emblematic of some of the principal developments in British society. Arguing that Britain's reception of refugees was rarely motivated by humanitarianism, this book reveals the role of Britain's international preoccupations, anxieties and sense of identity; and how refugees' reception was shaped by voluntary efforts and the changing nature of the welfare state. Based on rich archival sources, this study offers a compelling new perspective on changing ideas of Britishness and the place of 'outsiders' in modern Britain.

‘In the midst of the current clamour over Brexit, borders and Britishness, Taylor’s book uses refugees as a lens to examine the broader contours, contradictions and hostilities of British society in an earlier age of mass migration, globalisation and displacement. Important, illuminating and crucial to understanding citizenship, illegalisation and multi-status Britain today.’

Claire Alexander - University of Manchester

‘Original in conception and deeply researched, Becky Taylor’s new book not only illumines the struggles of refugees to enter and make a home in Britain but also requires us to reconsider the history of the British state and civil society in the central decades of the twentieth century.’

David Feldman - Birkbeck, University of London

‘What do refugees tell us? They tell us about ourselves. In this carefully researched and morally urgent new book, Becky Taylor tells a story of Britain through its hosting, rejection, inclusion, and exclusion of the refugees of the twentieth century. All the themes that trouble modern Britain are in this study: what we think citizenship is, what we want the state to be and to care about, who we think we are, and who we once wanted to be. It’s not always a pretty story, but one we desperately need to learn from just now.’

Lyndsey Stonebridge - University of Birmingham

‘This book is an essential read for anyone wanting to understand how we got to our present Britain.’

Anna Maguire Source: The UEL Research Repository

‘… this is a very well-researched and carefully argued book … It provides an excellent source for anyone who wishes to know more about the origins and experiences of refugees who arrived in Britain during the twentieth century.’

Colin Pooley Source: Family & Community History

‘Thanks to the outstanding scholarship of Refugees in Twentieth Century Britain, the beautiful difficulty and complexity of things and people is a little easier to understand.’

Katherine Mackinnon Source: Refugee History