Jonathan Power – författare

Migrant Workers in Western Europe and the United States discusses the state of job migration of Europeans and Americans. The geographical table showing the country of origin of the worker and the number of such workers are presented in the text. This table also provides a statistical record of the volume of people that migrated under the covered years. Such a table shows if there is a steady or fluctuating increase or decrease of migrant workers. The second chapter of the book discussed the historical background of the movement. Another section of the volume provides a discussion on the economics of immigration. Illegal migration is the focus of the fourth section of the text. The means of becoming an illegal migrant is covered in this section. The politics of migration of different countries are discussed in detail. There is also a section on the social conditions of the receiving countries. The book will provide useful information to sociologist, economist, students and researchers in the field of statistics.

The book tells the fascinating story of a family deciding to exit the demands of life in northern Europe and head for a sub-tropical life on an Atlantic island. A planned one-year stay expands into three years, but ends with a debilitating tug of war between husband and wife about whether to return north or not. The story which began so beautifully grinds to a sad end. The place they had ended up living was in a ramshackle house, covered in bougainvillea in a tiny, unspoilt village with no tourists since there was no beach. (However, unbeknown to outsiders, down a steep run of steps was an amazing large rock pool that had breathlessly clear water and only a couple of other swimmers.) When not swimming or doing up the house, the couple worked—in Jeany’s case at her opera concerts and in Jonathan’s case writing a history of Amnesty International, which Penguin had commissioned. Their eight-year old daughter, Jenny, went to the local village school. She spoke no Spanish but within three months she was fluent.