This book investigates how the influx of migrant workers, refugees, and political exiles has fundamentally reshaped the social and political landscape of modern Europe. Jane Kramer, a long-time European correspondent for The New Yorker, utilizes a series of detailed personal profiles to document the lives of individuals who exist outside the traditional European demographic. Her argument posits that these marginalized populations are primary architects of contemporary European identity, often exerting more influence on the continent's evolution than the established technocratic or bourgeois classes.

Critics and readers frequently note the journalistic clarity and humanistic focus of Kramer's prose. Experts highlight the work as an insightful, if specific, historical snapshot of the social tensions that defined late 20th-century Europe.