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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Easy to read, perhaps aimed at school history classes, this book is abundantly illustrated with contemprary line drawings. A moving account of the human cost of the potato famine in Ireland.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
19 reviews
46 of 47 people found the following review helpful
A haunting history
12 July 2002
Format:Hardcover
The potato blight that struck Ireland in the mid 1800s produced a nation-wide famine, resulting in "one million dead and two million who fled" to other countries, predominately the US and Canada. Countless other Irishmen, with no food, money or homes, simply disappeared. Susan Campbell Bartoletti's "Black Potatoes" recreates the era year by year from haunting contemporary newspaper illustrations, government records and first hand survivor stories, told to their children and grandchildren.
Bartoletti provides a balanced account of the economic, political and social repercussions of the blight and the ensuing famine. Food was available but the poor did not have the means to acquire it. The British government was slow to react to the devastation. Irish government officials, landowners, and shopkeepers worked to protect their own interests but, finally, in the end, contributed the greatest amount of financial support to the poor. The Friends Church, operating local soup kitchens, and American relatives, sending millions of dollars in financial support, were allies of the Irish poor during these times.
This book is a wonderful historical recounting of the time and is compelling reading for those of all ages interested in their Irish heritage. Bartoletti brings the horrors of famine and poverty to life. The 150-year old drawings, originally published in the "Illustrated London News", will stay with the reader long after the book is finished. The six-page narrative bibliography is as interesting as the story itself, and provides students and researchers with numerous sources for further study.
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
An extraordinary book
8 Nov 2001
Format:Hardcover
Susan Campbell Bartoletti, already well known for her award-winning fiction and nonfiction, has reached new heights with this book. It is clearly impeccably researched, yet never reads like a dry compilation of facts. It is by turns moving, horrifying, hopeful, and depressing. Although she points out the general indifference and (often) hostility of some government officials who could have provided some relief, she never falls into the easy trap of making anyone the villain of the terrible story of the Irish potato famine. Instead, she details the general ignorance of the cause of the blight and the sometimes well-meaning but misguided attempts of different people to remedy the situation.
Most importantly, the reader leaves feeling that this is not some strange thing that happened to unknown people a long time ago. The feeling of immediacy, and the way the reader is led to empathize with the sufferers, make it fresh and real.
Readers of "Nory Ryan's Song" who want to get the real history of this terrible time should be encouraged to read "Black Potatoes."
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
A Hungry History
10 Mar 2006
Format:Hardcover
An interesting and worthwhile history, made more palatable than a textbook by the extensive quotations of personal accounts and contemporary newspaper illustrations.
Broad in scope and adequate in depth, the book treats the Great Irish Famine of 1845-1850 with a sensitive, compassionate tone, spending great time on the human toll of the Famine, as well as the diseases it invited and the social upheaval it instigated.
Bartoletti vividly illustrates the dehumanizing and horrifying experience of the starving Irish, and explicitly eschews diplomacy to explore the economic and political causes. The book also explores both the (perceived or actual) maintenance and possible exacerbation of the crisis by the English government and the English landlords. Bartoletti concludes that the awkward and faltering relief was so unwillingly given because of staunchly protected laissez-faire economics as well as cultural biases and prejudice against the Irish. These factors created a political climate where merely the forecast of improvement caused the English to quit relief programs, often too soon, thus causing the situation to worsen for the Irish, creating staggering costs - in pounds as well as in lives.
Brief treatment of revolutionary activity is included, as well as interesting exposition of folk beliefs and practices.
This book avoids the "boring history" noose of more densely-written academic works, and is clearly targeted at young adults with its narrative style, but I recommend this for anyone wishing to read more deeply on this subject. Definitely written from an Irish point of view, but well researched and rich in original sources.
Broad in scope and adequate in depth, the book treats the Great Irish Famine of 1845-1850 with a sensitive, compassionate tone, spending great time on the human toll of the Famine, as well as the diseases it invited and the social upheaval it instigated.
Bartoletti vividly illustrates the dehumanizing and horrifying experience of the starving Irish, and explicitly eschews diplomacy to explore the economic and political causes. The book also explores both the (perceived or actual) maintenance and possible exacerbation of the crisis by the English government and the English landlords. Bartoletti concludes that the awkward and faltering relief was so unwillingly given because of staunchly protected laissez-faire economics as well as cultural biases and prejudice against the Irish. These factors created a political climate where merely the forecast of improvement caused the English to quit relief programs, often too soon, thus causing the situation to worsen for the Irish, creating staggering costs - in pounds as well as in lives.
Brief treatment of revolutionary activity is included, as well as interesting exposition of folk beliefs and practices.
This book avoids the "boring history" noose of more densely-written academic works, and is clearly targeted at young adults with its narrative style, but I recommend this for anyone wishing to read more deeply on this subject. Definitely written from an Irish point of view, but well researched and rich in original sources.
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