Newcomers' Lives

Book excerpt: To mention the names Ernst Gombrich, Nikolaus Pevsner, Joseph Conrad, Nancy Astor, C.L.R. James and Lucian Freud is to give but a brief glimpse of the impact immigrants to this country have made on our national culture and character. Indeed, these people have been crucial to the development of recent British history and have been indispensable for the way we live now. By reproducing the Times obituaries of over one hundred of the most important of these, the reader is given a unique view of their contribution and it is clear how their contribution has been a determinant factor in British history. The book covers politics, business, art, architecture, music and sport as well as philosophy and religion. The breadth and depth of the influence of immigrants is thus reinforced. The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, contributes a fascinating introduction surveying our historial and cultural landscape.