Interesting if a little repetitive. ( )

I went into this book believing that England's sins in the Great Famine were more of omission than commission, and left being pushed a bit closer to commission, though the author is still judging 19th century behaviour by 20th century standards. There is a pretty good case as to the real villain of the British response, a rather oily Sir Humphrey Appleby type, though some of the Irish landlords that were in the British cabinet do come in for a drubbing. Coogan also goes after "colonial cringe" type analyses of the Famine, i.e., ones that downplay the British actions. Certainly recommended, if a bit polemical. (Addendum: in discussing this with a family member well up on the history, he pointed out that at the same time as the Great Famine in Ireland, there were other famines in Wales, England and Scotland, which tends to undercut Coogan's thesis.) ( )

Excellent history of the famine (not the potato famine as so often called) though by a historian who is notable for his Irish Republican sentiments; and it shows in his narrative. Could have done with some hard editing as there are a few serious mistakes (which don’t affect the narrative) and some repetition which could have been elided. ( )

The Famine Plot is a history of extreme suffering. From 1845 to about 1852 Ireland lost a large amount of its population to famine and the policies of the British government.

Tim Pat Coogan contends that food exports from Ireland – at the height of the famine, and for profit – resulted in a much larger loss of life. Combined with the British government’s policy of indifference to the tragedy in Ireland, millions emigrated or died. Coogan makes the argument that this was an act of genocide. It is documented that the British viewed the depopulation of Ireland as a positive turn of events – no matter how it came about. Ireland was seen as a source of food for Britain. And they wanted beef, not potatoes. He shows how the Brits purposely dragged their heels in providing assistance because they saw “the opportunity presented by the Famine to clear a surplus population off un-economically worked land.”

Coogan doesn’t shy from documenting the horror of the deaths caused by famine and sickness, or from talking about the British “laissez-faire” policies that exacerbated the misery. The damage lasted long after the famine was over. As a result of depopulation, the West of Ireland suffered from ‘The diseases of bachelordom, loneliness, and alcoholism.”

It’s not possible to read this history without getting angry and also drawing comparisons with current efforts to limit social programs. Although he says “it would be impossible to properly chronicle the frenzy and despair that impelled the Irish out of Ireland during the Famine years,” Coogan has done just that. His faith in Ireland remains strong. As he concludes, “A land that could survive the Famine can survive almost anything.” ( )

A painful and infuriating examination of the root (no pun intended) causes of the 19th century Irish potato harvest failure and the subsequent famine that changed the face of Ireland forever. Coogan is following in the footsteps of the great Cecil Woodham Smith, whose The Great Hunger laid the ultimate blame for the depth of the tragedy at the feet of the British government, which refused to provide sufficient if any relief for the millions of starving Irish. Both Woodham Smith and Coogan carefully document the ways in which British society at the time considered the Irish little better than animals, perhaps explaining but not excusing the appalling lack of intervention. Coogan goes a bit further, discussing in minute detail specific members of the British government and related staff who he feels were most responsible for the extent of the suffering. It's a difficult book to read at time, with its heart-searing descriptions of desperate Irish peasants and its rage-inducing condemnation of British governmental attitudes. Well worth reading for anyone who wants to dig deeper (pun again not intended) into this dark time in Anglo-Irish relations. ( )