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Sto caricando le informazioni... The Famine Plot: England's Role in Ireland's Greatest Tragedydi Tim Pat Coogan
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![]() Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. ![]() ![]() I went into this book believing that England's sins in the Great Famine were more of omission than commission, and left being pushed a bit closer to commission, though the author is still judging 19th century behaviour by 20th century standards. There is a pretty good case as to the real villain of the British response, a rather oily Sir Humphrey Appleby type, though some of the Irish landlords that were in the British cabinet do come in for a drubbing. Coogan also goes after "colonial cringe" type analyses of the Famine, i.e., ones that downplay the British actions. Certainly recommended, if a bit polemical. (Addendum: in discussing this with a family member well up on the history, he pointed out that at the same time as the Great Famine in Ireland, there were other famines in Wales, England and Scotland, which tends to undercut Coogan's thesis.) Excellent history of the famine (not the potato famine as so often called) though by a historian who is notable for his Irish Republican sentiments; and it shows in his narrative. Could have done with some hard editing as there are a few serious mistakes (which don’t affect the narrative) and some repetition which could have been elided. The Famine Plot is a history of extreme suffering. From 1845 to about 1852 Ireland lost a large amount of its population to famine and the policies of the British government. Tim Pat Coogan contends that food exports from Ireland – at the height of the famine, and for profit – resulted in a much larger loss of life. Combined with the British government’s policy of indifference to the tragedy in Ireland, millions emigrated or died. Coogan makes the argument that this was an act of genocide. It is documented that the British viewed the depopulation of Ireland as a positive turn of events – no matter how it came about. Ireland was seen as a source of food for Britain. And they wanted beef, not potatoes. He shows how the Brits purposely dragged their heels in providing assistance because they saw “the opportunity presented by the Famine to clear a surplus population off un-economically worked land.” Coogan doesn’t shy from documenting the horror of the deaths caused by famine and sickness, or from talking about the British “laissez-faire” policies that exacerbated the misery. The damage lasted long after the famine was over. As a result of depopulation, the West of Ireland suffered from ‘The diseases of bachelordom, loneliness, and alcoholism.” It’s not possible to read this history without getting angry and also drawing comparisons with current efforts to limit social programs. Although he says “it would be impossible to properly chronicle the frenzy and despair that impelled the Irish out of Ireland during the Famine years,” Coogan has done just that. His faith in Ireland remains strong. As he concludes, “A land that could survive the Famine can survive almost anything.” ![]() nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
During a Biblical seven years in the middle of the nineteenth century, Ireland experienced the worst disaster a nation could suffer. Fully a quarter of its citizens either perished from starvation or emigrated, with so many dying en route that it was said, "you can walk dry shod to America on their bodies." In this grand, sweeping narrative, Ireland''s best-known historian, Tim Pat Coogan, gives a fresh and comprehensive account of one of the darkest chapters in world history, arguing that Britain was in large part responsible for the extent of the national tragedy, and in fact engineered the food shortage in one of the earliest cases of ethnic cleansing. So strong was anti-Irish sentiment in the mainland that the English parliament referred to the famine as "God's lesson." Drawing on recently uncovered sources, and with the sharp eye of a seasoned historian, Coogan delivers fresh insights into the famine's causes, recounts its unspeakable events, and delves into the legacy of the "famine mentality" that followed immigrants across the Atlantic to the shores of the United States and had lasting effects on the population left behind. This is a broad, magisterial history of a tragedy that shook the nineteenth century and still impacts the worldwide Irish diasporaof nearly 80 million people today. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
Già recensito in anteprima su LibraryThingIl libro di Tim Pat Coogan The Famine Plot è stato disponibile in LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Discussioni correntiNessunoCopertine popolari
![]() GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)941.5081History and Geography Europe British Isles IrelandClassificazione LCVotoMedia:![]()
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