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theshiftyshadow's review
2.0
This book gives a pretty good overview of the Irish Famine. It's main aim though is to spell out how big a part England played in the lead up to it and how little they did to help during it. It says as much on the front cover so it shouldn't be a surprise that it's heavily critical of England and it's government of the time.
Sadly there are a lot of similarities to situations still happening around the world, the chapter about propaganda in the media in particular stood out in light of what's happening in Gaza at the moment. I've seen some seriously dodgy reporting from various outlets and it's a bit of a shock to learn that this is not a modern phenomenon.
As an Irish person who is reasonably well educated on our own history there wasn't a lot that came as a surprise to me. If all you know about the Famine is that we ate lots of potatoes and then there were no potatoes so we all died than some of the things in here will probably come as a horrible shock to you.
I'm not 100% sure what the writers motivation was in writing this. Personally I feel we must always remember our past but we can't dwell on it or allow it to influence the relationships we have with various countries today. I will say though that the same various other countries could do with reading this book and more like it and becoming better educated on their own histories.
Sadly there are a lot of similarities to situations still happening around the world, the chapter about propaganda in the media in particular stood out in light of what's happening in Gaza at the moment. I've seen some seriously dodgy reporting from various outlets and it's a bit of a shock to learn that this is not a modern phenomenon.
As an Irish person who is reasonably well educated on our own history there wasn't a lot that came as a surprise to me. If all you know about the Famine is that we ate lots of potatoes and then there were no potatoes so we all died than some of the things in here will probably come as a horrible shock to you.
I'm not 100% sure what the writers motivation was in writing this. Personally I feel we must always remember our past but we can't dwell on it or allow it to influence the relationships we have with various countries today. I will say though that the same various other countries could do with reading this book and more like it and becoming better educated on their own histories.
raehink's review
3.0
Not knowing much about Irish history made this book a bit difficult at times. But I had to start somewhere, and this was a good place.
Coogan introduces the players and details the politics behind the English policies that were supposed to alleviate the famine. He's an angry author and goes so far as to call the English actions genocide, which they might very well be, at least by today's UN definition.
An educational read.
Coogan introduces the players and details the politics behind the English policies that were supposed to alleviate the famine. He's an angry author and goes so far as to call the English actions genocide, which they might very well be, at least by today's UN definition.
An educational read.
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