Aiding Ireland - (The Glucksman Irish Diaspora) by Anelise Hanson Shrout (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Honorable Mention, 2025 ACIS James S. Donnelly, Sr. Prize for Books on History and Social Sciences

Looks at the ways that disparate groups used Irish famine relief in the 1840s to advance their own political agendas

Famine brought ruin to the Irish countryside in the nineteenth century. In response, people around the world and from myriad social, ethnic, and religious backgrounds became involved in Irish famine relief. They included enslaved Black people in Virginia, poor tenant farmers in rural New York, and members of the Cherokee and Choctaw nations, as well as plantation owners in the US south, abolitionists in Pennsylvania, and, politicians in England and Ireland. Most of these people had no personal connection to Ireland. For many, the famine was their first time participating in distant philanthropy.

Aiding Ireland investigates the Irish famine as a foundational moment for normalizing international giving. Anelise Hanson Shrout argues that these diverse men and women found famine relief to be politically useful. Shrout takes readers from Ireland to Britain, across the Atlantic to the United States, and across the Mississippi to Indian Territory, uncovering what was to be gained for each group by participating in global famine relief. Aiding Ireland demonstrates that international philanthropy and aid are never simple, and are always intertwined with politics both at home and abroad.

Review Quotes

"Fascinating... [Shrout's] insights into the use of international philanthropy in America are intriguing and persuasive, and the book will ensure that scholars reexamine our understanding of nineteenth-century charity."-- "H-Net"

"[Shrout] commendably matches her ambitious range with thorough research, grounding her succinct and insightful understanding of these debates in newspapers and political speeches."-- "CHOICE"

"In Aiding Ireland, historian Anelise Hanson Shrout addresses [the motivations behind humanitarian aid] in relation to the transnational philanthropic response to the Great Famine. Her convincing study explores why people from so many places and backgrounds donated, and reveals their underlying agendas. Without minimising the generosity of donors, she complicates prevalent and often simplistic narratives about famine-era philanthropy ... a well-argued and highly welcome monograph that offers a compelling account of the political and ideological dimensions of humanitarian aid during the Famine."-- "The Irish Times"

"Aiding Ireland is an important contribution to the growing literature on the history of philanthropy. It not only examines a significant chapter in transnational giving, but also explores the underlying agendas that surrounded donations by groups such as slaves and Native Americans, broadening our understanding of the breadth and uses of philanthropy in the United States."--Kathleen McCarthy, author of American Creed: Philanthropy and the Rise of Civil Society

"An important addition to famine historiography. Shrout has produced a rigorous and excellent analysis of the complex relationship between international philanthropy and the Irish famine."--Christine Kinealy, Emmy-award winner of The Great Hunger and the Irish Diaspora

"An impressive and valuable contribution to both Irish history as well as the history of international philanthropy."--David Gleeson, Northumbria University, Newcastle

"In this elegant, meticulously-researched book, Anelise Shrout uncovers the ways in which international charitable responses to a nineteenth-century catastrophe in Ireland were rooted in local concerns and anxieties. Aiding Ireland is landmark work on the birth pains of global philanthropy."--Cian T. McMahon, author of The Coffin Ship: Life and Death at Sea during the Great Irish Famine

About the Author

Anelise Hanson Shrout is Assistant Professor in the Program in Digital and Computational Studies at Bates College, where, she is also affiliated with the Department of History and the Program in American Studies.