The End Of Hidden Ireland: Rebellion, Famine, And Emigration Hardcover

Robert James Scally

Many thousands of irish peasants fled from the country in the terrible famine winter of 1847-48, following the road to the ports and the liverpool ferries to make the dangerous passage across the atlantic. The human toll of "black '47," the worst year of the famine, is notorious, but the lives of the emigrants themselves have remained largely hidden, untold because of their previous obscurity and deep poverty. In the end of hidden ireland, scally brings their lives to light. Focusing on the townland of ballykilcline in roscommon, scally offers a richly detailed portrait of irish rural life on the eve of the catastrophe. From their internal lives and values, to their violent conflict with the english crown, from rent strikes to the potato blight, he takes the emigrants on each stage of their journey out of ireland to new york. Along the way, he offers rare insights into the character and mentality of the immigrants as they arrived in america in their millions during the famine years. Hailed as a distinguished work of social history, this book also is a tale of adventure and human survival, one that does justice to a tragic generation with sympathy but without sentiment.

9780195055825

English

Oxford University Press, USA

02 Mar 1995

276

Robert James Scally is Professor of History and Director of the Glucksman Ireland House at New York University.

it reads not like dry scholarship, but like a novel, or poetry, unashamed of the pity and anger its story cannot but evoke...it is above all through the exercise of imaginative sympathy that Robert Scally brings these people to life...Scally's chapter on what was done to the Irish in Liverpool, and said of them, and how they internalised the bigotry directed at them, is all but inreadably painful...unforgettable book. * The Irish Times (Dublin)weekned section * Scally fills his narrative with lively and vivid scenes...His evocative style depicts a thriving, efficient pre-Famine community * The Irish Times * Bob Scally is an acknowledged expert on the tough conditions faced by Famine emigrants in Liverpool and on the Atlantic passage and his depiction of them make harrowing reading. * History Ireland * engrossing and imaginative study * International Herald Tribune * this is one of the great strengths of the book: the author's ability to unravel the complicated web of themes and relate them in an objective manner while not detracting from the horrendous events of the period...remarkable detail, leaving no doubt as to the roles of each group that formed the different units of society ont he eve of the Famine. there is an incredibel amount of material from a wide variety of sources but in particular from the Quit Rent Papers in