Kathleen Paul challenges the usual explanation for the racism of post-war British policy. According to standard historiography, British public opinion forced the Conservative government to introduce legislation stemming the flow of dark-skinned immigrants and thereby altering an expansive nationality policy that had previously allowed all British subjects free entry into the United Kingdom. Paul’s extensive archival research shows, however, that the racism of minist… More >>
Whitewashing Britain: Race and Citizenship in the Postwar Era
At first it may seem that the book is about Comparative Immigration Politics: after all, the main subject of the work is postwar immigration to the UK. That is only one side of the story. The most interesting part is the criteria by which British officials were desiding what race and skin color potential immigrants could (”should”) have, and what could (”should”) not.
One begings to think about the U.S. and its racial and ethnic preferences it used to have in its immigration policies. Did you think the U.S. was alone in its racial preferences? Read the book then!
Rating: 5 / 5