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The Graves Are Walking: The Great Famine And The Saga Of The Irish People (2012)

by John Kelly(Favorite Author)

3.78 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

080509184X (ISBN13: 9780805091847)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Henry Holt and Co.

review 1: A compelling and haunting narrative of the Irish potato famine and a historical allegory to modern political ideologies about austerity, income, government assistance, and poor people. A dire warning, particularly as we head into an era of climate change that will likely increase weather related disasters and famines. As disasters tend to disproportionately affect the poor, there is a warning that must be learned from this book.
review 2: Brutal read. Even though it's a 150 years later, Ireland has yet to fully recover from the devastation caused by this famine. The suffering of the poor in Ireland is so disturbing because there seems to be no real reason why it needed to be so severe. Yes, the blight destroyed the potato crops that the poor were relying on ... morefor survival. But it seems to be the mismanagement by the British government and the lack of support from the Irish landowning class (along with a healthy dose of anti-Irish prejudice) that ultimately condemned the poor in Ireland to mass starvation and death. The blight, not being man-made, couldn't have been avoided, but the other causes of the Irish famine easily could have. less

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