Description
Sardar travels to Asian communities throughout the UK to tell the history of Asians in Britain - from the arrival of the first Indian in 1614, to the young extremists in Walthamstow mosque in 2006. He interweaves throughout an illuminating account of his own life, describing his carefree childhood in Pakistan, his family's emigration to racist 1950s Britain, and his adulthood straddling two cultures. Along the way he asks: are arranged marriages a good thing? Does the term 'Asian' obscure more than it conveys? Do vindaloo and balti actually exist? And is multiculturalism an impossible dream?
'Wonderful - part history, part autobiography, immensely rich in acute observation of multicultural Britain. A vivid, thoughtful study of what it means to be British today' John Gray, author of Straw Dogs
About the Author
Ziauddin Sardar was born in Pakistan in 1951 and grew up in East London. He works as a journalist and broadcaster and has published over 40 books, including Desperately Seeking Paradise. He is Visiting Professor of Postcolonial Studies at City University, London.
Reviews
'Energetic and accessible, Balti Britain is a powerful evocation of both the profundity and the myopia of the relationship between South Asia and Albion' Independent 'An erudite and entertaining book and it is its core contention that resonates profoundly: that Asians are not newcomers to Britain or foreigners to be accommodated and tolerated. Rather, the histories of Britain and the subcontinent are so intertwined through the experience of Empire and colonialism that British Asians are in fact direct products of this centuries-old encounter' The Times 'Sardar's engrossing, provocative book takes him and his readers on a journey - sometimes personal, always political - In the process, it reveals what he believes is the concealed history of the long relationship between Britain and India, Pakistan and Bangladesh' Metro 'An ambitious and provocative book that deserves to be read as the first draft of the history of Asians in Britain today' Observer "Deftly spiced and meaty concoctions that leave a largely positive taste in the mouth' Independent Biography and Memoirs Christmas Round Up. 'The great achievement of this book is to bring this is to bring this remarkable history to life with a novelist's sense of character - [A] clear-headed examination of multicultural Britain' Financial Times
Book Information
ISBN 9781847080820
Author Ziauddin Sardar
Format Paperback
Page Count 400
Imprint Granta Books
Publisher Granta Books
Weight(grams) 287g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 26mm
'Wonderful - part history, part autobiography, immensely rich in acute observation of multicultural Britain. A vivid, thoughtful study of what it means to be British today' John Gray, author of Straw Dogs
About the Author
Ziauddin Sardar was born in Pakistan in 1951 and grew up in East London. He works as a journalist and broadcaster and has published over 40 books, including Desperately Seeking Paradise. He is Visiting Professor of Postcolonial Studies at City University, London.
Reviews
'Energetic and accessible, Balti Britain is a powerful evocation of both the profundity and the myopia of the relationship between South Asia and Albion' Independent 'An erudite and entertaining book and it is its core contention that resonates profoundly: that Asians are not newcomers to Britain or foreigners to be accommodated and tolerated. Rather, the histories of Britain and the subcontinent are so intertwined through the experience of Empire and colonialism that British Asians are in fact direct products of this centuries-old encounter' The Times 'Sardar's engrossing, provocative book takes him and his readers on a journey - sometimes personal, always political - In the process, it reveals what he believes is the concealed history of the long relationship between Britain and India, Pakistan and Bangladesh' Metro 'An ambitious and provocative book that deserves to be read as the first draft of the history of Asians in Britain today' Observer "Deftly spiced and meaty concoctions that leave a largely positive taste in the mouth' Independent Biography and Memoirs Christmas Round Up. 'The great achievement of this book is to bring this is to bring this remarkable history to life with a novelist's sense of character - [A] clear-headed examination of multicultural Britain' Financial Times
Book Information
ISBN 9781847080820
Author Ziauddin Sardar
Format Paperback
Page Count 400
Imprint Granta Books
Publisher Granta Books
Weight(grams) 287g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 26mm
