ROT: A HISTORY OF THE IRISH FAMINE (HB)

Padraic Scanlan reinterprets the history of the potato famine. In the first half of the nineteenth century, nowhere in Europe - or the world - did the working poor depend as completely on potatoes as in Ireland. To many British observers, potatoes were evidence of a lack of modernity among the Irish. However, Ireland before the famine more closely resembled capitalism's future than its past. Uncovering the disaster's roots in Britain's deep imperial faith in markets and capitalism, this book reshapes our understanding of the Famine and its tragic legacy.