Changes in Attitudes to Immigrants in Britain, 1841-1921

“This is a meticulously researched study which says something genuinely new about migrants and their perception in nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain. It adds to our knowledge of immigration during an important era in the evolution of multiracial Britain, which historians and public opinion have tended to ignore.” — Panikos Panayi, Professor of European History and Head of History, De Montfort University “An interesting analysis of how ‘alien’ gradually replaced other equivalent terms in British political discourse from the 1870s until the aftermath of World War I – a symptom in a rising tide of xenophobia.” — Emmanuel Comte, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs) Ben Braber's book is not intended as an end itself, but rather as a means of encouraging others to explore the processes of immigration and settlement through the interrogation of linguistic evolution. He has succeeded in this goal—Anne J. Kershen, Queen Mary University of London; pp 779 to 781; The Journal of British Studies The book highlights how corpus linguistic methods (that is, computer-aided analyses of large collections of text) can uncover regular patterns of usage in historical texts. What is especially striking is how some of the discourses prevalent in nineteenth-century outlets find echoes in contemporary press coverage of immigration. […] The book does well to weave together a compelling narrative regarding the role the British press played in pushing pro/anti-migrant positions during a period of significant cultural and economic upheaval. […] For historians of British (im)migration, this book will undoubtedly be of value, particularly because of how well it sets out the cultural context against which alien emerges as a political identity category.—Midland History