With what feels like the majority of modern political arguments becoming extremely polarised, Tomiwa Owolade’s This Is Not America poses a series of refreshingly balanced ideas on – as the book’s subtitle puts it – ‘Why Black Lives In Britain Matter’, creating a nuanced, passionate and persuasive read. 

Owolade challenges the Americanised lens through which we discuss race in Britain: as per the main title, the UK’s history, culture, and politics differ significantly to that of the USA, so why do we discuss race in the same way?

Throughout a series of chapters on topics such as immigration, empire and mixed-race identity, Owolade sets out an empirical yet holistic representation of Black life in Britain, arguing that in order to build an anti-racist agenda “we must specifically emphasise a British context”. In a particularly evocative chapter, ‘Black And British’, the author suggests that whilst there are myriad cultural identities within Black British communities and in wider Britain, “Black identity is not alien to Britishness. It is encompassed by it.”

This Is Not America, though situated within an often heated and contentious political landscape, is a powerfully subtle, balanced and optimistic addition to the discourse on race in Britain that feels perfectly timed.