This study is concerned with the social, religious and occupational structure of a rural community on the western shore of Lough Ree in the century preceding the Great Famine. It traces the unprecedented rise in population and examines some attempts by landlords to deal with this rise. Land ownership and occupation is discussed and the Catholic/Protestant relationship examined. As the nineteenth century progressed, this rural community came increasingly under the influence of national agencies involved in the provision of educational and welfare services.

The first systematic study of famine in all parts of Europe from the Middle Ages to present. It compares the characteristics, consequences and causes of famine in regional case studies by leading experts to form a comprehensive picture of when and why food security across the continent became a critical issue.

Roscommon was a land hungry county. The landless rose in large numbers and declared they would rather be shot than starved. Their opposition and brutality was directed against those evicting their tenants or ëtaking-upí land from which another had been evicted. By depleting the ranks of the landless labourers, the famine eased the pressure on the land supply and broke the resolve of the ëdisaffectedí.

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How tenant farmers evicted from Ireland made a new life in the United States

The Great Famine of 1845-52 was the most decisive event in the history of modern Ireland. In a country of eight million people, the Famine caused the death of approximately one million, while a similar number were forced to emigrate. The Irish population fell to just over four million by the beginning of the twentieth century. Christine Kinealy's survey is long established as the most complete, scholarly survey of the Great Famine yet produced. First published in 1994, This Great Calamity remains an exhaustive and indefatigable look into the event that defined Ireland as we know it today.