Great Irish Famine

Fabrice Bensimon is professor of British and Irish history at Sorbonne Université in Paris and an honorary fellow of University College London. He is the author of Artisans Abroad: British Migrant Workers in Industrialising Europe, 1815-1870. Laurent Colantonio is professor of British and Irish history at the Université du Québec à Montréal in Canada. His research focuses on nineteenth-century Irish national movements and the Great Famine. He is the author of L'homme-nation: Daniel O'Connell et le laboratoire politique irlandais, 1775-1847.

• IntroductionI.'THE GREAT FAMINE WAS NO ORDINARY SUBSISTENCE CRISIS'II.PLUMBING THE DEPTHSIII. 'WHY IRELAND STARVED': THE GREAT DEBATEIV.THE GREAT FAMINE: A WATERSHEDChapter 1. Ireland on the eve of the Great FamineI.A SINGULAR SUBORDINATIONII.POLITICS AND RELIGIONIII.AN ECONOMY IN CRISISIV.A SOCIETY RIFE WITH INEQUALITYV. ON POTATOES AND DEMOGRAPHYChapter 2. No country for poor devils. The blight, famine, and mortalityI.THE POTATO BLIGHT AND THE AGRARIAN CRISISII. MEASURING MORTALITYIII.CAUSES OF DEATHIV.AGE, GENDER, CLASS, AND THE GEOGRAPHY OF MORTALITYCONCLUSIONChapter 3. Politics, economics, and Britain's responseI.THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE: BETWEEN POLICY AND IDEOLOGYII.FROM FOOD SALES TO PUBLIC WORKS (1845-1847)III.FROM SOUP KITCHENS TO POOR LAW REFORM (SPRING 1847-1849)IV.CONTENDING WITH FAMINE: MEASURING BRITAIN AGAINST ITS NEIGHBOURSCONCLUSIONChapter 4. Irish society: the dynamics of class strugglesI.LANDLORDS AND TENANTSII.SOCIAL VIOLENCE AND LAW ENFORCEMENTCONCLUSIONChapter 5. Famine and nationalismI.A MOVEMENT DIVIDED (1845-1847)II.THE VANITY OF CONSTITUTIONAL NATIONALISMIII.THE RISE AND FALL OF AN INSURRECTIONIV.THE IRISH TENANT LEAGUEChapter 6. Prisms and perspectives. The press, charity, and the global reception of the FamineI.REPRESENTING THE HORRORS OF THE FAMINE: JAMES MAHONEY - ARTIST, WITNESS, JOURNALISTII.THROUGH BRITISH EYES: FAMINE FATIGUE, COMPASSION, AND IRISH STEREOTYPESIII. A QUESTION OF PERSPECTIVE: THE VIEW FROM FRANCEIV.THE MEDIATIZATION OF CHARITYChapter 7. Emigrants and EmigrationI.EMIGRATION AS A MEANS OF SURVIVALII.CROSSING THE OCEAN TOWARDS NEW HORIZONSIII.THE IRISH IN GREAT BRITAIN, THE EMPIRE, AND THE UNITED STATESChapter 8. Consequences and legaciesI.SOCIETY AND POPULATIONII.CULTURE AND RELIGIONIII.POLITICAL POSTERITYCONCLUSIONChapter 9. Remembering the FamineI.THE FOUNDATIONS OF NATIONAL MEMORYII.A SILENT MEMORY?III.PARADIGMS OF MEMORY: FROM ONE COMMEMORATION TO ANOTHERIV.'REALMS OF MEMORY'V.THE GREAT FAMINE IN THE ARTS AND LITERATURESome Units of Measurement in the Imperial SystemNote on Currency, Income, and PricesChronology (1845-1852)Bibliography

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