The Great Hunger: Ireland: 1845-1849 (Paperback)

by Cecil Woodham-Smith (Author) "AT THE beginning of the year 1845 the state of Ireland was, as it had been for nearly seven hundred years, a source of grave..." (more)
Key Phrases: distressed unions, auxiliary workhouses, presentment sessions, New York, Lord John Russell, Board of Works (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Irish potato famine of the 1840s, perhaps the most appalling event of the Victorian era, killed over a million people and drove as many more to emigrate to America. It may not have been the result of deliberate government policy, yet British 'obtuseness, short-sightedness and ignorance' - and stubborn commitment to laissez-faire 'solutions' - largely caused the disaster and prevented any serious efforts to relieve suffering. The continuing impact on Anglo-Irish relations was incalculable, the immediate human cost almost inconceivable. In this vivid and disturbing book, Cecil Woodham-Smith provides the definitive account. 'A moving and terrible book. It combines great literary power with great learning. It explains much in modern Ireland - and in modern America' - D.W. Brogan.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Group (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014014515X
• ISBN-13: 978-0140145151
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #44,956 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #3 in	Books > History > Europe > Ireland > Potato Famine
  #14 in	Books > History > Europe > England > 19th Century
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Sets the Standard, November 19, 2002

By	Paul J. Ditz (Shelby, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is by far the most complete and best written account of the Great Hunger in Ireland. Woodham-Smith sets forth in heart-wrenching detail the causes, experiences and effects of the great potato blight in the mid 1800s in Ireland. Unflinching in its indictment of the laissez-faire response of British authorities such as Trevelyan and Russell, this thorough history sheds a blinding light on a dark period in this history of this great and troubled nation. If you read only one account of the Hunger, make this the one.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A detailed and heart-breaking history, January 24, 1999

By	Paul Harrington (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

One would be pressed to call "The Great Hunger" an easy read. Written in 1964, its style and dense recitation of facts can leave the reader mired in detail.

Yet through the often thick prose comes a shocking tale of human disaster on an enormous scale. The near-total reliance of the Irish on the potato leads to calamity when that crop is destroyed by blight in the mid-1840's. Beholding to their landlords (many of them absentee), virtually penniless, they are swept into a vortex of helplessness and starvation.

While local officials in Ireland realise with horror the consequences of the crop failure, government bureaucrats in London stubbornly insist it would be wrong to send massive food relief because it would undermine free enterprise.

The author quotes extensively from numerous first hand accounts which graphically describe the suffering and despair of the Irish peasantry.

The book however is not limited to the tragedy that took place in Ireland. Woodham-Smith relates how thousands of Irish, many of them ill with typhus, flee their homeland for North America. Many of the vessels are poorly equipped and provisioned, and their cargo is human misery.

One of the most appalling chapters deals with the scene at Grosse Isle, Quebec, where a small fever hospital is overrun by sick and dying immigrants. At one point in the summer of 1847, dozens of ships are moored in the St. Lawrence River, waiting to discharge their gravely-ill passengers. The line of vessels stretches several miles. The deaths number in the thousands.

This is just one of many compelling images which emerge from Woodham-Smith's history, and they more than compensate for the often complex and detailed way he presents his information.

A worthwhile companion book to "The Great Hunger" is the novel "Away" by Jane Urquhart, which traces the journey of an Irish family from the Isle of Rathlin off the north coast of Ireland, to the Canadian province of Ontario, during the potato famine.

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly researched account that paints a complete picture, January 26, 1999

By	Tim Hare "myshoes" (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews

A good book to read on the subject if you you're looking for a single text on the subject of the Irish Potato Famine. I do appreciate the technical and fact filled nature of Smith's writing. What it lacks in specific details on human suffering it makes up for with detailed accounts on the conditions and players that led to this tragedy. This book covers the political and cultural environments of the time as well as the greater effect the famine had on Ireland and the rest of the world. I came away from the book with a clearer picture of the relationship between Ireland and England, and a better understanding of the role each country (and their populations, press, government officials, landowners, farmers and royalty) played.