Eliot Dickinson, in vivid imagery taken from the stories of migrants with their hands forced by globalization processes, tells a story of our migratory times that began half a millennium ago and continues today. The reasons for past and modern migrations are thoroughly explained, leading to the inescapable conclusion that the world today has a choice to make. We can reject the reasons behind historical cyclical migratory patterns and the migrants who are a part of them and pay the price of failed states and peoples, or we can encourage through public policy the myriad contributions to global peace and prosperity that the overwhelming majority of migrants wish to make in their new lands. This book is a must-read for social scientists and concerned students alike.

Ross E. Burkhart, Boise State University

The most important product of globalization isn’t money or goods, but people. In Globalization & Migration, Eliot Dickinson shows that although human migration is as old as the human race, modern migration is produced by displacement—by economic inequality, climate change and the conflicts that result from them. This is an enormous contribution. Dickinson explains clearly that building walls or detention centers cannot stop migration. Instead, he makes a powerfully written argument for social justice, the antidote to anti-immigrant hysteria. It should be read by all of us who care.

David Bacon, author of The Right to Stay Home