"[A] brilliantly written and important book about displacement and flight [...] a compelling portrait of a raw human drama [...] This is a book for our times." - Christopher Clark
The renowned historian on escape and deportation as a profoundly human experience
In his new book, Andreas Kossert – the renowned expert on emigration and expulsion in the twentieth century and author of the bestselling «Cold Home» – places the early twenty-first-century refugee movement in a wider historical context.
Movingly told and interwoven with personal accounts, Uprooted – The Refugee in World History reveals the existential experiences of uprootedness and hostility that go hand in hand with losing one’s homeland, and explains why refugees and displaced persons have always found it so difficult to settle into a new country.
Whether they have come from East Prussia, Syria or India, refugees are agents of world history – and with this book Andreas Kossert gives them a voice.
The Jury of the German Nonfiction Prize said from «Flight»:
«Those who flee lose – home, their belongings, long-standing social contacts and, to a certain extent, control over their own life. Refugees share this experience, they know about the difficulties of a new beginning and the reservations of those who have always been there, who feed on the fear of losing as much themselves as those who have fled.
The historian Andreas Kossert has familiarized himself with the perspective of the refugees, has collected their stories from the pre-modern era to the present, and, in addition to historical sources, has also compiled touching literary testimonies from those affected. Empathy, a sense of style, staying power and a calm look at the current debates about emigration and immigration characterize this great achievement.»