ABSTRACT
During a century that was filled with food shortages and famines both in Ireland and in other parts of the British Empire, the Great Famine stands out as exceptional in terms of its impact and longevity. While The Great Famine was praised by the academic community, popular response to it was more muted. Moreover, de Valera was privately disappointed in the final outcome. The Great Famine of the 1840s is sometimes compared with the famine of the early 1740s, in terms of its lethalness. The Great Famine in Ireland', which opens the series, is concerned with the Great Famine, arguably one of the greatest tragedies in Irish history. The subsequent volumes demonstrate, through different lenses, how far-reaching the impact of the Famine was largely as a result of the mass emigration that accompanied it, and persisted long after good harvests had returned to Ireland.
