Description
Book SynopsisWhy some of the most vulnerable communities in Europe, from independent cities to new monarchies, welcomed refugees during the Age of Revolutions and prospered
Trade Review“Janet Polasky unearths an unappreciated history of the experience of asylum in Europe and the United States since the Age of the Democratic Revolutions. Facing squarely the destruction of asylum in our own time, she ends with a stunningly optimistic vision of a path toward its reconstruction.”—Linda K. Kerber, author of
No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies“Janet Polasky not only expertly depicts the life of French émigrés in the cosmopolitan cities of Hamburg and Altona during the Revolution, but she explores the asylum dilemmas that confront the world today.”—Kirsty Carpenter, Massey University
“Janet Polasky weaves a compelling history from the human experiences of political refugees who found temporary welcomes in the ‘small spaces’ of European states, in port cities, in Brussels, and the Swiss cantons. Her stylish prose deftly captures a historical moment suspended between Enlightenment cosmopolitanism and emergent nationalism.”—Mary Lindemann, University of Miami
