Ireland's Great Famine

"Cormac O Grada, the leading economic historian of the Famine, has now collected some of his essays on the topic. Though aimed primarily at the academic audience, this book makes for fascinating, at times grim, reading for anyone wanting to learn more about the disaster." BBC History 2006 "The core approach is that of the economist, all the essays also involving, as we have come to expect from Cormac O Grada, an excellent analysis (quantitative and qualitative) of contemporary newspaper material and official data, as well as considerable exploration of retrospective evidence, particularly that of the Irish Folklore Commission's collections ... The Great Famine considers both the limitations and the vision of mid-twentieth-century historical studies, while teasing out the difficulties of combining commemoration and academic history." Irish Studies Review 15 (3) 2007 "O Grada's work is always both stimulating and thought provoking and consequently any new publication by this author is to be welcomed." "Ireland's Great Famine is well worth seeking out. O Grada's is always refreshingly free from the political prejudices that mar much that has been written on this topic. For those who are acquainted with a basic understanding of the great Irish famine, this volume will prove rewarding reading. It provides many insights into how famine could occur in what was then part of the world's richest country and is a welcome addition to the burgeoning historiography of this sad period in Ireland's history." Local Population Studies No 78 Spring 2007 "O Grada's work A... goes beyond the disciplines of history and economics. He takes advantage of his fluency in Gaelic to exploit folklore materials that document how the Famine was remembered by later generations. The fact that he can pose the hardnosed questions of the economist and also discern the meaning of bitter, even if inexact, popular recollections makes O Grada's contribution to the highly charged debates about responsibility for the tragedy especially worthy of attention. He is also at pains to identify ways in which the Irish Famine can shed light on present-day famines as well as to point out problems in applying our understanding of modern famines to those in the past." Peter Mandler, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Journal of Interdisciplinary History XXXIX (1) 2008 "Cormac O Grada, Professor of Economics at University College, Dublin, is one of the leading and most respected historians of the Famine. Even before 1995, which marked the sesquicentenary of the appearance of the potato blight in Ireland, and reinvigorated public, political and academic interest in this topic, his writings gave the Famine its rightful place in the development of nineteenth-century Irish history. - This book contains many tables and charts, reflecting the author's interest in economics and econometrics, but they are presented in a lucid way, which complements, rather than complicates, the accompanying text. - demonstrates that there is still much that we do not know about this pivotal decade in Irish history - and that there is plenty of scope for the next generation of researchers to build on the solid foundations laid." Christine Kinealy Drew University, Madison New Jersey Irish Economic and Social History 2008