Atlas of the Great Irish Famine
*Starred Review* Just when it seems that print reference books are inching toward a reliquary fate, new ones are published that belie this notion. This physically substantial volume—replete with impressive color photographs, illustrations, and maps—is such a source. Palpably solid and sturdy in hand, the content is equally weighty and significant, covering details of demographics, geography, history, politics, economics, and folklore surrounding the most pivotal event of Irish history.   Sweeping in scope and painstaking in detail, the atlas offers multiple perspectives and insights by way of first-person oral and written accounts, poetry, art, photography, and scholarship. Organized into sections such as “Population Decline and Social Transformations,” “Witnessing the Famine,” “The Scattering,” “Legacy,” and “Remembering the Famine,” the volume is also complemented by numerous charts, tables, and graphs delineating various statistical aspects of the Great Famine. Examples include tables showing the size of the potato crop, mortality rates by gender, number and destination of famine emigrants, and knowledge of the Irish language by province.   Smaller chapters within the sections cover interesting topics like “Irish Famine Refugees and the Emergence of the Glasgow Celtic Football Club.” Additionally, the book provides primary resources, which are both stark and heartbreaking. For example, a photograph of a handwritten note directs the deceased of a workhouse to be buried without coffins because of financial constraints. Another such note indicates that the destitute Irish immigrants arriving in Liverpool in 1847 are to be sent back to their homes—a fate that befell 15,000 in that year alone.   Though accessibly written, the volume also retains its scholarly tone, with more than 25 pages of endnotes. Overall, this resource is an example of how well done print reference can still be, and is well worth the price for all types of libraries. --Michael Tosko