This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant's Manifesto

"Someone made the mistake of telling Suketu Mehta that immigrants were a problem. Mehta’s response, This Land Is Our Land, begins with an anecdote about his grandfather – an immigrant well-versed in Britain’s colonial experiments – who, when confronted in London in the ‘80s by a fellow Briton asking “Why are you in my country?” responded: “Because we are the creditors. You took all our wealth. Now we have come to collect.” It’s the thesis of the book but just the barest hint of the argument that Mehta will marshal by the time he’s finished presenting his sweeping history of how solidly our world has been built by immigrants. This might sound like a tiresome polemic but, in this case, anger has just sharpened Mehta’s focus and put his eloquence to full use. Beware of scapegoats who know the truth, write this well and decide to fight back."