From our earliest wanderings within and out of Africa, to the earth-shattering repercussions of the Age of Exploration, to the building of the US?Mexico border wall, here is a comprehensive account of an essential feature of humanity?the complete story of human migration
For hundreds of thousands of years, the ability of Homo sapiens to travel across vast distances and adapt to new environments has been key to our survival as a species. Yet this deep migratory impulse is being tested as never before. The number of international migrants has increased five decades in a row, yet many governments are making migration more difficult. With climate change and increased global conflict poised to continue to create new migrants?and rising nationalism intent on keeping borders closed?now is the time to examine what history can teach us about migration.
In The Shortest History of Migration, visionary thinker Ian Goldin?Oxford Professor of Globalization, former advisor to Nelson Mandela, former vice president of the World Bank, and himself an emigrant?tells the story of human migration, spanning every age and continent. With over one hundred illustrations, including more than twenty-five maps, and using ancient records and the latest genetic research, Goldin recounts the entire course of human movement, examining the legacies of empire, slavery, and war. And in unique immigrant spotlights intermixed throughout, he tells strange, terrible, and uplifting tales of individual migrants?a Jewish man saved by the Kindertransport, a Japanese gardener who lands in Lima, an escaped Irish convict worker on the road to Tasmania.
Then Goldin turns his attention to today's world. Blending his knowledge of economics and globalization, and incorporating lessons from history, Goldin offers a detailed picture of modern-day migration, and lays out common-sense policies for countries grappling with it. At once a studied history and a vision for the future, The Shortest History of Migration is a moving portrait of humanity, and a chance for us to learn from our own past.
