Irish and Irish-American History at The Nyack Library: a list of books and web sites: The Great Famine

The potato famine of 1845-51 was a pivotal event in the development of modern Ireland. No aspect of Irish life was untouched by the crisis. Kinealy offers not just a general history of the famine, but an illuminating exploration of aspects which have received little attention, including the rise in crime, the food export controversy, the role of religion, the growth of the Orange order, and the impact of the uprising in 1848.

"The National Library of Ireland is a major source for the study of the Irish Famine. Its collections include the newspapers, the parliamentary debates, and the various official reports published at the time. The Department of Manuscripts holds the records of many of the great landed estates, which provide primary evidence on the landlords' role in the crisis. The Library's extensive collection of prints and drawings enables us to visualise conditions at the time, and to empathise with our ancestors in their travails." "To give as broad an understanding as possible of this vast and complex subject, the book also includes documents and illustrations from a number of other repositories. They include the National Archives, the Department of Irish Folklore at University College Dublin, Dublin Diocesan Archives, Birmingham Library Services, the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the McKinney Library in Albany, U.S.A., and the National Archives of Canada."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This important book provides a full account of the famine, combining narrative, analysis, historiography, and scores of contemporary illustrations.

A unique record of the Great Famine, written with insight, detachment and empathy. Based on a wide selection of sources -- contemporary newspapers, official correspondence and diaries -- it provides a graphic picture of conditions in the Irish countryside as the crisis developed. It combines analysis and an overview with a focus on the worst hit areas. The relief efforts are presented where possible, with the help of priests' letters, from the perspective of the poor.

The Killing of Major Denis Mahon is the riveting true story of a controversial murder that casts new light on the Great Irish Famine. At the height of the famine now considered the greatest social disaster to strike nineteenth-century Europe, Anglo-Irish landlord Major Denis Mahon from County Roscommon was assassinated as he drove his carriage through his property, which was filled with thousands of starving tenants. Mahon had removed 3,000 of his 12,000 tenants by offering some passage to America aboard disease-ridden "coffin ships," giving others a pound or two to leave peaceably, and sending the sheriff to evict the rest. His murder sparked a sensation and drove many of the world's most powerful leaders, from the queen of England to the pope, to debate its meaning. Award-winning journalist Peter Duffy tells, for the first time, the story of the assassination and its connection to the cataclysm that would forever change Ireland and America. With full access to historical records, including Mahon's private papers, government documents, and extensive court and police files, Duffy tries to uncover the truth about Mahon's murder and the role he did-or did not-play in the sufferings of his tenants, while also shedding new light on the horrific struggles of the starving and impoverished Irish. Gripping, revealing, and heartbreaking, The Killing of Major Denis Mahon is the incredible investigation of the great, unsatisfactorily solved crime of Irish history, and a fresh examination of the horrors of the Great Famine.