ABSTRACT
Richard Evans has warned of counter-history and the dangers it represents, often reflecting the work of reactionaries who nostalgically long for a lost England. It is perhaps no coincidence that some of the authors he has in mind, such as Niall Ferguson, have been prominent in their anti-migrant views, writing against the invasion of Britain and/or Europe by undesirables since the Second World War. The chapter presents a different type of counterfactualism: that in the field of historiography, what if–academically speaking–Colin Holmes had not existed? In the study of migration to Britain, and responses to it, would it have been necessary, to paraphrase Voltaire, to invent him? There are historical sociologists such as John Solomos who accept the importance of past attitudes and praxis in understanding more recent developments. These, however, are exceptional individuals working against the dominant forces of their disciplines.
