This Great Calamity: The Irish Famine 1845-52

by Christine Kinealy

The Great Famine of 1845-52 was the most decisive event in the history of modern Ireland. In a country of eight million people, the Famine caused the death of approximately one million, while a similar number were forced to emigrate. The Irish population fell to just over four million by the beginning of the twentieth century. Christine Kinealy's survey is long established as the most complete, scholarly survey of the Great Famine yet produced. The unraveling of fact from opinion, the interpretation of motives behind the London governments' responses, and the confrontation of stereotypes are at the heart of this extensive work. This Great Calamity is an exceptional book, now available for the first time in pocket format.

Genres: History, Ireland, Nonfiction, European History, Irish Literature

504 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1994

Reviews

[David Nichols · Rating 3 out of 5]

That the Great Famine dealt Ireland a nearly mortal blow, few today can deny. From 1845 to 1852, about one million men, women, and children died of hunger and disease, and two million left the island for good. That the famine was unnecessary, most historians and probably most modern Irish citizens also know. Even after the potato blight Ireland had enough food (grain, meat, and other comestibles) to feed two of the three million subsequently lost to death or emigration. Britain’s government simply refused to take the obvious step of banning food exports from Ireland, deciding instead to prioritize profits and free-trade dogma above human lives.

That a significant minority of Englishmen welcomed the Great Famine only a cynic or a fervent Irish nationalist might suspect. In her judicious and clinical 1994 history Christine Kinealy confirms the cynics’ suspicions. While Ireland was part of metropolitan Britain, the English elite treated it as a conquered province, economically backward and full of barbarous peasants. They saw the Famine as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, a chance to rid Ireland of its undeserving poor (i.e., most of the population) and replace their homes with large, productive, English-run commercial farms. To this end, Whitehall provided only meager relief to the starving island, chiefly in the form of watery soup and inadequate purchases of American maize. Parliament forced smallholders to abandon their land to qualify for public aid, and compelled the owners of now-bankrupt Irish estates to sell or surrender them. Those who lost their homes or land the government encouraged to emigrate, generally to the more remote parts of the Empire.

As the famine ships set sail, as Ireland’s poorhouses and burial grounds filled, as its homes collapsed into ruin and its children starved, Englishmen and women praised themselves for their charity and integrity. They also blamed the Irish for their plight. Charles Trevelyan, the Treasury minister responsible for Irish relief, believed that “God…had ordained the Irish famine to teach the people a lesson.” A sympathetic minister visiting Ireland drew a different conclusion, with which Kinealy agrees: “The principles of political economy have been carried out to a murderous extent.” Killing people in pursuit of an ideology of improvement - where else I have I heard this sort of thing?

[Edward Lengel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mind-numbingly dull, a recycled dissertation.

[Dan Sexton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most useful book with regards to information on relief provision during the Famine. Christine Kinealy appears to be the go-to expert on this subject and from what I have read this book offers the clearest description of how both Britain and, yes, Ireland allowed a crop failure to evolve into the ultimate tragedy of Irish history. Those who consider it dull must not appreciate either the level of work which must have gone into its writing, or the value of understanding how a system can bring about catastrophe. Would recommend.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very dense non-fiction book that goes into nitty-gritty political detail about relief efforts during the Irish Famine years. Very insightful, very thorough, and a worthwhile read to get perspective on this historical event.

[Deb O · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough read, lots of individuals, lots of statistics, lots of information. Did not make me like my English side still

[Maureen Flatley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A definitive history of the Irish holocaust.

[Heather G · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring

I love history and can even overlook dry parts but this books was just dry with a few almost interesting parts.