A Seventh Man

A Seventh Man:A Book of Images and Words about the Experience of Migrant Workers in Europe

by John Berger

  • Paperback

    + free ebook

    256 pages / 30 September 2025 / 9781804298565

    Forthcoming

  • Paperback (2010)

    + free ebook

    248 pages / October 2010 / 9781844676491

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  • Ebook

    30 September 2025 / 9781789600780

    Forthcoming

A new edition of the seminal classic exploring the fate of migrant workers

First published in 1975, this finely wrought investigation remains as urgent as ever, presenting the life of those who have travelled to live and work in Europe. Art critic, novelist, and artist John Berger brings humanity and a voice to those silenced in the political debate about who does and doesn’t belong.

Why does the Western world look to migrant labourers to perform the most menial tasks? What compels people to leave their homes and accept this humiliating situation? In A Seventh Man, Berger and Jean Mohr come to grips with what it is to be a migrant worker – the material circumstances and the inner experience – and, in doing so, reveal how the migrant is not so much on the margins of modern life but at its centre.

Reviews

  • I admire and love John Berger’s books. He writes about what is important, not just interesting—in contemporary English letters, he seems to be peerless; not since Lawrence has there been a writer who offers such attentiveness to the sensual world with responsiveness to the imperatives of conscience. He is a wonderful artist and thinker.

    Susan Sontag

  • This book is ever more timely.

    Geoff Dyer

  • His most remarkable book

    Economist