Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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Book Summary Information
Author: Susan Campbell BartolettiEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-10-29
ISBN: 0618002715
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Book Reviews of Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850
Book Review: A Hungry History
Summary: 4 Stars
An interesting and worthwhile history, made more palatable than a textbook by the extensive quotations of personal accounts and contemporary newspaper illustrations.
Broad in scope and adequate in depth, the book treats the Great Irish Famine of 1845-1850 with a sensitive, compassionate tone, spending great time on the human toll of the Famine, as well as the diseases it invited and the social upheaval it instigated.
Bartoletti vividly illustrates the dehumanizing and horrifying experience of the starving Irish, and explicitly eschews diplomacy to explore the economic and political causes. The book also explores both the (perceived or actual) maintenance and possible exacerbation of the crisis by the English government and the English landlords. Bartoletti concludes that the awkward and faltering relief was so unwillingly given because of staunchly protected laissez-faire economics as well as cultural biases and prejudice against the Irish. These factors created a political climate where merely the forecast of improvement caused the English to quit relief programs, often too soon, thus causing the situation to worsen for the Irish, creating staggering costs - in pounds as well as in lives.
Brief treatment of revolutionary activity is included, as well as interesting exposition of folk beliefs and practices.
This book avoids the "boring history" noose of more densely-written academic works, and is clearly targeted at young adults with its narrative style, but I recommend this for anyone wishing to read more deeply on this subject. Definitely written from an Irish point of view, but well researched and rich in original sources.
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