Why are there so many Italian hairdressers and Chinese restaurants in Glasgow? Who's more Glaswegian: an Irishman, a Highlander or a Pole? Who's city is this anyway? For the past 200 years, immigrants to Glasgow have found prosperity and poverty in its streets and closes. Mary Edward investigates their history, and the contribution they have brought to the city. With clear-sighted social analysis and an impressive assembly of historical evidence, Edward weaves a vivid tapestry of the many peoples and cultures that have created contemporary Glasgow. The staggering diversity of languages, religions and ethnicities is no new phenomenon in this city on the Clyde. Today's Glasweigans are the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of yesterday's incomers, all of whom have chosen this great Scottish melting pot as their own. This book will be an education and a delight to generations of Glasweigans - and all those proud to belong to Glasgow.

Author Biography

Mary Edward was born in Glasgow and graduated from Glasgow University in 1975 with an Honours Arts degree. She worked in education in Strathclyde Region for 20 years and retired in 1996. For the latter part of that time she worked as Education Development Officer in the field of Multi-Cultural Anti-Racist education, developing and producing many resources and developing and delivering in-service packages to teachers at every level. During that time she researched and wrote the first edition of Who Belongs to Glasgow?, a documentary history of immigration to Glasgow over two centuries. Mary is currently President of Strathkelvin Writers' Workshop, and Vice-President of the Scottish Association of Writers.