To Hell or Barbados: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland [Paperback]

Sean O'Callaghan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0863222870 | ISBN-13: 978-0863222870 | Publication Date: December 31, 2001

The previously untold story of over 50,000 Irish men, women and children who were transported to Barbados and Virginia. Sean O'Callaghan for the first time documents the history of these people: their transportation, the conditions in which they lived on plantations as slaves or servants, and their rebellions in Barbados. ""An illuminating insight into a neglected episode in Irish history, but its significance is much broader than that. Its main achievement is to situate the story of colonialism in Ireland in the much larger context of worldwide European imperialism. O'Callaghan's description of seventeenth century Barbados is a powerful portrait of a society as brutal, corrupt and unjust as anything the twentieth century has to offer. Yet it is precisely societies like colonial Barbados and Virginia which lie at the root of our modern world. That is why To Hell or Barbados is such a valuable book.""--Irish World

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Brandon Books (December 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0863222870
• ISBN-13: 978-0863222870
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #311,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book that covers what the history books omit, December 9, 2004

By 

Randy J. Wilson "Raze" (Staten Island, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Hell or Barbados: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland (Paperback)

Being an Irish history buff, one day I had come along an interesting bit of Irish history, about a time period during the slave trade years, where there was a great deal of Irish slaves. Yet, I could only find this information on websites with bibliographies of books that are rare or no longer existant. Yet, I had the fortunate luck of stumbling across this book here on Amazon.com. I must say, it was everything and more than I asked for. Detailed accounts of the invasion of Ireland by Cromwell and his forces, the brutal savagery and overall genocide committed by these men. The detailed accounts of how the slaves were sold on the auction block, how they were looked down upon by even the other slaves, since they were white.

I highly reccommend this book to any Irish history buffs like myself or any students doing a report on Irish history.

It is sad that the average American history book sums up Cromwell's attrocities as "Cromwell treated the Irish very poorly". This book brings to light the extent of the savagery done upon the Irish, and does great justice in explaining the time known as the Irish Holocaust.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Historical Account of Irish Slavery in 17th Century, May 11, 2007

By 

Dakota "daxydakota" (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Hell or Barbados: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland (Paperback)

The nonfiction book "To Hell or Barbados: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland" by Sean O'Callaghan describes a moment in history that very few know about. In the seventeenth century, Oliver Cromwell (who took over England) encouraged the mass slaughter and enslavement of Irish men, women, and children for various reasons, one being that the Protestant English regarded the Catholic Irish as inhuman and unchristian.

According to O'Callaghan, many Irish priests were hunted down like wolves and Irish soldiers exiled to Spain or France, while rebels and widows alike were forcibly sent to Barbados in the Caribbean as indentured servants or slaves. Over 50,000 people were sent to Barbados to work on the sugar plantations. This book chronicles what happened to them. Beatings, whippings, torture, rape, and humiliation were just some of the terrible indecencies that these people suffered because they were Catholic and Irish.

The book itself is short, well written, and easy to read. The narrative moves from Cromwell's battles in Ireland* to the treatment of the surviving Irish to exportation to the Caribbean and indentured servitude/white slavery to modern-day descendants of the Irish on Barbados. In between, you will get a detailed and informative account of life in the seventeenth century while at war in the UK and as plantation owners and slaves in the Caribbean. There is even a chapter on Irish buccaneers (pirates).

*Please note you may want to look up who Oliver Cromwell was before you read this, as the book jumps straight into the action without too much political/biographical background.

I read this book quickly. It was fascinating, yet horrifying and thoroughly depressing. It is also eye-opening history. I highly recommended it to anyone interested in Caribbean, Irish, or English history, as well as for those interested in the slave trade or religious conflicts.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How multigeneration hatred evolved in Ireland, January 21, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: To Hell or Barbados: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland (Hardcover)

The book was an eye opener. I thought I had an understanding of Irish history. I was astonished and outraged. The purpose of the book is to reveal the true outrages that caused the multigeneration enmity between the Irish and English and succeeds. No one can understand the present situation in No. Ireland without it.

The book was well referenced, even sighting English historical information to substanciate the truth. 50-100,000 Irish women sold into prostitution and slavery by the same English traders, god-fearing puritan's, who sold African's into slavery. No reference to this in modern history books.

I never knew that the Irish were made literal slaves by the English or the extent of the ethnic and religious hatred and the genocide perpetrated by the British against them. The slaughter and genocide perpetrated has been squelched in the press and media for centuries.

It leaves me with the question of what kind of a media do we have in the U.S. that has kept this imformation from us?

Numerous American's of many ethnic groups have told me that I was lying, it didn't happen just like the holocaust. I was dumb struck and had to bring in the book to prove it too them. It begs the question: What's with diversity in this country does if it only goes one way?

Its a book any one who believes in real diversity should read. You can't understand the present Irish situation between the IRA and the UDL without it.

EXCELLENT