WINNER OF THE LAURA SHANNON PRIZE 2021 AND ITALY'S CHERASCO HISTORY PRIZE 2021 SHORTLISTED FOR
THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE 2020 A TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019 Migrants have
stood at the heart of modern Europe's experience whether trying to escape danger to find a
better life or as a result of deliberate policy whether moving from the countryside to the
city or between countries or from outside the continent altogether. Peter Gatrell's powerful
new book is the first to bring these stories together into one place. He creates a compelling
narrative bracketed by two nightmarish periods: the great convulsions following the fall of the
Third Reich and the mass attempts in the 2010s by migrants to cross the Mediterranean into
Europe. The Unsettling of Europe is a new history of the continent charting the ever-changing
arguments about the desirability or otherwise of migrants and their central role in Europe's
post-1945 prosperity. Gatrell is as fascinating on the giant movements of millions (such as the
epic waves of German migration) to that of much smaller groups such as the Karelians
Armenians Moluccans or Ugandan Asians. Above all he has written a book that makes the reader
deeply aware of the many extraordinary journeys taken by countless individuals in pursuit of
work safety and dignity all the time. This is a landmark book on a subject that decade by
decade will always haunt Europe. 'Peter Gatrell has produced a tour de force ... This
important and timely work on one of the most challenging issues in modern Europe deserves to be
widely read' Ian Kershaw
