Jeffrey Hill
Learie Constantine was a member of the British peerage when his final publication, Living in Britain, came out in 1970. Strangely, in view of Constantine’s eminence, the book’s appearance was overlooked at the time, and has been ever since. The following essay seeks to cast some light on it, especially to illuminate its main purpose – giving practical advice to new immigrants in Britain, and its implicit theme of assimilation. The book’s stance on race relations, it is argued, comes more from Constantine’s own personal encounters with race over preceding years. It relevance to the developing popular discourse of race relations in late-twentieth century Britain is limited.