The Irish potato famine of the 1840s, perhaps the most appalling event of the Victorian era, killed over a million people and drove as many more to emigrate to America.
It may not have been the result of deliberate government policy, yet British 'obtuseness, short-sightedness and ignorance' - and stubborn commitment to laissez-faire 'solutions' - largely caused the disaster and prevented any serious efforts to relieve suffering.
The continuing impact on Anglo-Irish relations was incalculable, the immediate human cost almost inconceivable.
In this vivid and disturbing book Cecil Woodham-Smith provides the definitive account.
'A moving and terrible book.
It combines great literary power with great learning.
It explains much in modern Ireland - and in modern America' D.
Brogan.
Penguin Books The great hunger: ireland: 1845-1849, paperback/cecil woodham-smith
