Reviews 'Engaging, informed, sophisticated, lucid, detailed - a worthwhile historical contribution that shows how the present day state of the nation grew from its deep roots in the arts and lives of the postwar years among Caribbean settlers to Britain.' Leon Wainwright, Open University 'The year 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the 1948 voyage of the Empire Windrush ... Read morefrom Jamaica to Britain, a voyage often credited with marking the beginning of mass Commonwealth immigration. This book contextualizes that event in two ways. It shows that many thousands of imperial migrants came to Britain for war service, and that Windrush was continuing existing patterns. While acknowledging subsequent severe prejudice, Bidnall (independent historian) goes beyond alienation and conflict in tracing this history. She argues convincingly that West Indians’ culture "was not a wholly alien one ... it was ... profoundly shaped by the colonies' centuries-long connection to Britain" (as she writes in the introduction)—which is to say, West Indians knew British customs, language, and literature. Numerous West Indian visual artists (e.g., Ronald Moody), actors and radio performers (Edric Connor), musicians (calypsonians Lord Invader, Lord Kitchener), and writers sought success and acceptance in England, and many achieved it. The BBC’s diverse programming and wide reach played a crucial role. Resistance through cultural politics intensified later, with the rise of black nationalism and colonies winning independent nationhood. Bidnall’s book does not supplant standard race-relations narratives, but it fruitfully expands and advances debate' T. P. Johnson, CHOICE Show Less