Goodhart's book probing Brexit Britain to Hurst

Hurst is set to publish a book about the political and moral values which are “sharply dividing Brexit Britain”, by David Goodhart.

Michael Dwyer, m.d and publisher at Hurst, acquired world English language rights to The Road to Somewhere: The Populist Revolt and the Future of Politics from agent Toby Mundy at Toby Mundy Associates Ltd.

The title is a “robust and timely investigation into the political and moral values that are sharply dividing Brexit Britain”, and how a new settlement can be found.

In the book Goodhart argues that the old political divides of class and economic interest have been over-laid by a new one: between the mobile ‘achievement’ identity of people from 'Anywhere', and the marginalised, roots-based identity of people from 'Somewhere'. He sees the ‘Somewhere’ backlash not as wholly illiberal, but as a democratic response to the dominance of ‘Anywhere’ interests, in everything from higher education to mass immigration and the EU.

Dwyer said: “David is one of the most creative thinkers about social policy that this country has produced. His contribution to our post-Brexit debate on issues such as citizenship, migration and disenfranchisement is eagerly anticipated.”

Goodhart is the founding editor of Prospect magazine, has been director of the centre-left think tank Demos, and most recently has headed the Demography, Immigration and Integration Unit for Policy Exchange. His last book The British Dream: Successes and Failures of Post-War Immigration (2013) was runner-up for the Orwell Prize in 2014 and was a finalist for ‘Political Book of the Year’ in the Paddy Power Political Book Awards.

The Road to Somewhere will be published March 2017.