Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book that covers what the history books omit, December 9, 2004
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.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Historical Account of Irish Slavery in 17th Century, May 11, 2007
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.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A history of the Irish as slaves, January 12, 2007
This is an excellent history of slavery imposed upon the Irish by the British government. This history of white slavery is frequently ignored.
The first chapters with detailed histories battles in Ireland are somewhat too complex. However, when the author gets to the story of slavery, the gathering of mostly women and children to serve as slaves in Barbados, the writing is excellent.
English power under Cromwell clearly did not consider the Irish as humans. The captives were treated almost like animals. The imposition of slavery shows well how an ideology of superiority can turn to cruelty, starvation, and oppression. While we tend to think of slavery in terms of racial groups, this work shows that racial groups are defined (socially constructed). To the English, the Irish were a racially inferior group.
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