The Famine Ships

Rating:
Summary: If you have a drop of Irish blood in you, read this book.
Review: Anyone interested in their family history, the treatment of the Irish by the English Crown and the resultant holacaust called the Great Famine, should study this book. Well-documented and well-illustrated, it provides the history of the circumstances leading to the famine, the exodus and the horrors suffered by the emigres -- not only in their homeland, but aboard the ships. For someone researching Irish family names, this is the book to read, if for no other reason than to provide excellent background information and conditions of daily life.

Rating:
Summary: The message is what matters¿
Review: I make no apologies for the structural defects of this book, nor do I mean to suggest they should be ignored. They deserve criticism. Grammatical errors and poor editing are never welcome, however with History a factual mistake or contradiction is at best never acceptable, and at its worst can cause credibility to be questioned. I still recommend this book as the errors do not negate the events that took place, and as frustrating as they may be, they do not detract from the horror that was The Famine, nor the conduct of those involved. That the book did not gain a wider audience, possibly because of these faults is sad.

Ireland has been fertile ground for reprehensible behavior by England for over 700 years. Ireland too, at times has committed acts of violence via a variety of Catholic and Protestant groups. The dead, wounded, and the mutilated are all that either side has gained. The hatred exists to this day, and while violence has been calmer of late, a great period of time must pass before memories fade and forgiveness is accepted for apologies offered.

Prior to the ships in this book becoming "Famine Ships" many plied another trade as "Slave Ships", it is true that there were structural changes made, but beyond a certain point conditions become inhuman, period. The Potato Blight is often the only, or the primary reason given for the mass immigration that devastated the island. The truth is always more complex, it is no different here.

While starvation was rampant the food that was available, food grown right there next to those that were starving was exported to England. The English Landowners often paid for the cost of passage on these ships where so many died. These ships did carry the victims of Famine like they had carried the victims of slavery before. Transportation was almost secondary, how can it be anything else when conditions are created that are deadly by definition. It was cheaper to pay for transit than keep people alive on their ancestral land. And if they left they no longer had any use for land, so it was bought and accumulated by the same individuals that often paid for its owner's permanent eviction.

Ireland today is experiencing the return of some of the descendants of those that made that terrifying crossing. As a nation it has become one of the most prosperous in Europe by many economic standards, but that is not enough. Tolerance is not good enough, nor are plans of peace that neither party believes in their heart to be fair. It would be pleasant to site examples of hatred hardened by centuries of pain that have been put aside and new beginnings made. Perhaps the newfound economic health will help the process, perhaps not.

I hope for those who live there, be they Catholic or Protestant, that a way is found in a comparatively brief span of time to pause, heal, for apologies to be made, and accepted.

Rating:
Summary: Lightweight handling of a great subject; poor editing
Review: The "Famine Ships" is not a scholarly work on an important time in Irish and American History. Readers interested in fairly light, shallow treatment of the subject may enjoy the book. Readers interested in in-depth treatment of the subject should look elsewhere. As noted by other reviewers, there are technical problems with the book including poor copy editing and some writing problems. It is about one-draft away from being a better book.