Description
Book SynopsisDublin did not escape the Great Famine: many of its inhabitants experienced acute poverty and illness, while the capital witnessed an influx of the rural poor seeking refuge and relief. However, Dublin has remained largely neglected in popular and scholarly narratives of the Famine. This collection of essays breaks new ground and reconsiders the Famine and its historiography by locating Dublin city and its inhabitants at the centre of its focus. This volume, containing work by established and emerging scholars, presents some of the most recent research into life in Dublin during this period of unprecedented distress. As such, it constitutes the most detailed analysis to date of the impact of the Great Famine on Dublin and its inhabitants, and is the first monograph wholly devotedto this subject. This pioneering volume offers an interdisciplinary approach and a range of perspectives from its thirteen contributors. Featuring a foreword by Cormac O Grada and including a comprehensive overview of Famine scholarship on Dublin to date, its twelve additional essays cover such diverse topics as business life and industry in the city, the impact of the Famine on Dublin's charity and welfare landscapes, suicide and trauma at this time of acute crisis, experiences of the marginalised within prisons and hospitals, and cultural representations of Famine-era Dublin. It examines both direct and indirect impacts of the Famine on the city, noting promising future areas of research, and arguing for the reinvigoration of urban histories with Famine studies. This volume of essays will appeal to students, scholars and general enthusiasts of 19th-century Irish history, especially those interested in the history of the Great Famine and of Dublin. Generously illustrated, it illuminates an overlooked but essential dimension of Irish history.
Trade Review'Much remains to be researched on Dublin’s Famine-era history, but this finely produced and illustrated volume has done much to raise the veil.’ - Review by Peter Gray, UCD Today (Spring/Summer 2023); 'It is a welcome intervention, offering compelling evidence of how daily life in the colonial garrison town was affected by the social and economic catastrophe.' - Sara Keating, Sunday Business Post, November 2022.; 'Without question the Famine in the capital was not as devastating as what was experienced in other parts of the island. However, as impoverished people crowded into the city seeking work or relief, Dublin's streets appeared like a gigantic refugee camp.' - Irish Independent, November 2022.
