Ireland's Great Hunger - by David A Valone & Christine Kinealy (Paperback)

About the Book

This volume of essays is based upon papers that were delivered at Quinnipiac University's Great Hunger Conference in September 2000. It considers the Great Hunger both as a historical moment that had a devastating and enduring impact on Ireland, and as a social, political, and demographic process that shaped the culture and people of both Ireland and North America.

Book Synopsis

This volume of essays is based upon papers that were delivered at Quinnipiac University's Great Hunger Conference in September 2000. It considers the Great Hunger both as a historical moment that had a devastating and enduring impact on Ireland, and as a social, political, and demographic process that shaped the culture and people of both Ireland and North America. The chapters are grouped thematically into three parts. The first, Silence, takes as its point of departure the ways in which the Great Hunger created silences, both at the time of the Famine and in the subsequent historical memory of the Irish people. The second section, Memory, addresses the legacy of the Famine in the lives and work of the generation that lived through it and those who came after, both in Ireland and among the Irish Diaspora. The final section, Commemoration, considers how the Famine has become a focal point during the past decade in popular memory, particularly through varied efforts to memorialize the Famine and to integrate it into educational curricula. The book also includes an introduction by Christine Kinealy that discusses recent historical scholarship on the Famine, and a preface by David A. Valone that describes the ongoing educational and scholarly activities related to the Great Hunger at Quinnipiac University.

Review Quotes

"There is a great deal of diversity of viewpoints and perspectives in the essays...'Ireland's Great Hunger' should be of interest to both academic and general readers." --Curtis W. Wood, Jr., Western Carolina University, History

"Gracefully written and informative..." --Emily Dickinson International Society

"...this collection provides an engaging appraisal of the full legacy of the famine." --Choice Reviews

"...this collection provides an engaging appraisal of the full legacy of the famine." --Choice Reviews

"There is a great deal of diversity of viewpoints and perspectives in the essays...'Ireland's Great Hunger' should be of interest to both academic and general readers." --Curtis W. Wood, Jr., Western Carolina University, History

"Gracefully written and informative..." --Emily Dickinson International Society

About the Author

David A. Valone has served as an Assistant Professor of history and is Director of freshman academic programs at Quinnipiac University. He has authored works on the educational, linguistic and medical history of Britain, Ireland, and the United States during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Christine Kinealy is a reader in history at the University of Central Lancaster. She is the author and co-author of several books on the Great Hunger, including This Great Calamity: The Irish Famine 1845-1852 and A Death-Dealing Famine: The Great Hunger in Ireland.