From our earliest wanderings to the rise of the digital nomad, here is the story of human migration. For hundreds of thousands of years, the ability of Homo sapiens to travel across vast distances and adapt to new environments has been key to our survival as a species. Yet this deep migratory impulse is being tested as never before. By building ever stronger walls and raising barriers to progress, governments are harming the lives of migrants and threatening the future well-being of our societies.

In The Shortest History of Migration, a visionary thinker tells a story of the movement of peoples that spans every age and continent and goes to the heart of what makes us human. Drawn from ancient records and the latest genetic research, it recounts strange, terrible and uplifting tales of migrants past and present, examining the legacies of empire, slavery and war.

Finally, Goldin turns his attention to today’s world, bringing together the evidence of history with the most recent data to suggest how we might create a more humane future — one that allows us to reap the tremendous benefits that migration can offer.