But you cannot talk about human migration without acknowledging the fact that often people do not have the choice to stay where their home is. Forced displacement has become a bigger issue in recent years due to climate change, ethnic cleansing, and war, but it is about as new as our drive to travel in the first place. Sure, now there’s a more frequent need to leave your home because you’ve had multiple once-in-a-lifetime natural disasters happen to your home, but having to flee your home because others are forcing you is nothing new. Fights over resources had the less-powerful having to give up prized land to the winners. In time periods like the Age of Exploration, it was not uncommon to have people you have never seen before arrive, say the land was theirs, and tell you to leave…or shackle you and force you to work on the land you once called home. Or shackle you, throw you in a boat, and take you far away from your home. The home you will never see again and that your descendants will probably never see either. A lot of these books about migration are those kinds of stories. Migration is a massive worldwide issue and has been for generations. So many people have fled their lands just to be met with hostility in the place they’re having to build a new home. Where once the flow of populations was able to move naturally across the land (some still never quite welcome: just look at how Jewish and Romani people have been received throughout history) stringent borders and regulations have made finding a new land to call home a headache for some and a nightmare for others. But just remember, no matter the reason for your travels, in the immortal words of Buckaroo Banzai: “No matter where you go, there you are.” If you’re looking for some more immigration books, including fictional stories and books aimed towards children, I recommend checking out this list of what we think are some of the best immigration books.
