num_pages: 528
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.
language: English
title: The Great Hunger: Ireland 1845 - 1849
titlecomplete: The Great Hunger: Ireland 1845 - 1849
genres: Classics, Ireland, Historical, Irish Literature, History, European History, World History, Audiobook, 19th Century, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 1127
places: Ireland
publisher: Penguin Group