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Rich in archival detail and offering a ground-breaking analysis, this book presents a radically new interpretation of British politics and policy failings during the Great Famine.
The Irish famine of the 1840s is the biggest humanitarian crisis in the United Kingdom's history. Within six years of the arrival of the potato blight in Ireland in 1845, more than a quarter of its residents had unexpectedly died or emigrated. Its population has not yet fully recovered since.
Historians have struggled to explain why the British government decided to shut down its centrally organised relief efforts in 1847, long before the famine ended. Some have blamed the laissez-faire attitudes of the time for an inadequate response by the British government; others have alleged purposeful neglect and genocide. In contrast, The Great Famine in Ireland and Britain's Financial Crisis uncovers a hidden narrative of the crisis, which links policy failure in Ireland to financial and political instability in Great Britain. More important than a laissez-faire ideology in hindering relief efforts for Ireland were the British government's lack of a Parliamentary majority from 1846, the financial crises of 1847, and a battle of ideas over monetary policy between proponents and opponents of financial orthodoxy. The high death toll in Ireland resulted from the British government's plans for intervention going awry, rather than being prematurely cancelled because of laissez-faire.
This book is essential reading for scholars, students and anyone interested in Anglo-Irish relations, the history of financial crises and famines, and why humanitarian-relief efforts can go wrong even with good intentions.
The Irish famine of the 1840s is the biggest humanitarian crisis in the United Kingdom's history. Within six years of the arrival of the potato blight in Ireland in 1845, more than a quarter of its residents had unexpectedly died or emigrated. Its population has not yet fully recovered since.
Historians have struggled to explain why the British government decided to shut down its centrally organised relief efforts in 1847, long before the famine ended. Some have blamed the laissez-faire attitudes of the time for an inadequate response by the British government; others have alleged purposeful neglect and genocide. In contrast, The Great Famine in Ireland and Britain's Financial Crisis uncovers a hidden narrative of the crisis, which links policy failure in Ireland to financial and political instability in Great Britain. More important than a laissez-faire ideology in hindering relief efforts for Ireland were the British government's lack of a Parliamentary majority from 1846, the financial crises of 1847, and a battle of ideas over monetary policy between proponents and opponents of financial orthodoxy. The high death toll in Ireland resulted from the British government's plans for intervention going awry, rather than being prematurely cancelled because of laissez-faire.
This book is essential reading for scholars, students and anyone interested in Anglo-Irish relations, the history of financial crises and famines, and why humanitarian-relief efforts can go wrong even with good intentions.
Price: $39.95
Pages: 366
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: Boydell Press
Publication Date:
25 October 2022
Trim Size: 9.21 X 6.14 in
ISBN: 9781783277278
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / General, HISTORY / Europe / Ireland, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History, HISTORY / Modern / 19th Century, European history
The Great Famine is based on the author's multi-award-winning PhD thesis. Well-researched and extensively footnoted ... The book nonetheless deserves a wide readership as a serious and balanced contribution to the Irish economic history canon.
— THE IRISH TIMES
An extraordinarily wide-ranging, deeply researched and original critique of economic thinking, politics and policy making in mid-nineteenth Britain and Ireland. Read's work radically reshapes our understanding of the Great Irish Famine and of British politics more generally. It is the most holistic account yet of the catastrophic consequences of political and policy failure in a time of crisis, good intentions notwithstanding.
— Liam Kennedy, Emeritus Professor of Economic History, Queen’s University Belfast
In this bold new interpretation of the biggest economic policy disaster in modern British history, Charles Read argues that the failure to provide sufficient relief spending during the Great Irish Famine was the result of a fiscal and financial crisis rather than a commitment to laissez faire ideology. This is essential reading for any serious scholar of modern Irish and British history.
— Stephen Broadberry, Professor of Economic History, University of Oxford
Despite being written for a scholarly audience, the book's jolt to the senses resonates far beyond any solely academic setting. Great Famine injects a massive strand of fresh thinking into what had largely appeared to have been a dead end of history. It's challenging to describe what an incredible achievement this is. Parts of Great Famine go right against the grain of Britain's mythology about itself: it's almost heretical. It's hard not to be awestruck at the audacity of Dr Read's thesis and the way he unveils it.
https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/amp/cambridge-author-exhumes-irish-famine-and-details-a-financia-9287608/
— Mike Scialom
Recommended.
— CHOICE
Read's analysis eschews cultural explanations and instead offers an impressively researched and persuasively argued set of largely economic answers to the perennial question: "Why did starvation, death and emigration devastate an island which was part of the world's wealthiest economy?" (280). His answers will doubtless generate much future debate over this key issue in Irish Famine studies.
— VICTORIAN STUDIES
The book is based on Read's 2016 University of Cambridge doctoral thesis but has been developed through further reading and research around the subject. It incorporates, in its sixth chapter, an innovative new case study comparing British relief efforts in Ireland with those in the colony of Mauritius, which also suffered from famine conditions in 1847.
— JOURNAL OF MODERN HISTORY
— THE IRISH TIMES
An extraordinarily wide-ranging, deeply researched and original critique of economic thinking, politics and policy making in mid-nineteenth Britain and Ireland. Read's work radically reshapes our understanding of the Great Irish Famine and of British politics more generally. It is the most holistic account yet of the catastrophic consequences of political and policy failure in a time of crisis, good intentions notwithstanding.
— Liam Kennedy, Emeritus Professor of Economic History, Queen’s University Belfast
In this bold new interpretation of the biggest economic policy disaster in modern British history, Charles Read argues that the failure to provide sufficient relief spending during the Great Irish Famine was the result of a fiscal and financial crisis rather than a commitment to laissez faire ideology. This is essential reading for any serious scholar of modern Irish and British history.
— Stephen Broadberry, Professor of Economic History, University of Oxford
Despite being written for a scholarly audience, the book's jolt to the senses resonates far beyond any solely academic setting. Great Famine injects a massive strand of fresh thinking into what had largely appeared to have been a dead end of history. It's challenging to describe what an incredible achievement this is. Parts of Great Famine go right against the grain of Britain's mythology about itself: it's almost heretical. It's hard not to be awestruck at the audacity of Dr Read's thesis and the way he unveils it.
https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/amp/cambridge-author-exhumes-irish-famine-and-details-a-financia-9287608/
— Mike Scialom
Recommended.
— CHOICE
Read's analysis eschews cultural explanations and instead offers an impressively researched and persuasively argued set of largely economic answers to the perennial question: "Why did starvation, death and emigration devastate an island which was part of the world's wealthiest economy?" (280). His answers will doubtless generate much future debate over this key issue in Irish Famine studies.
— VICTORIAN STUDIES
The book is based on Read's 2016 University of Cambridge doctoral thesis but has been developed through further reading and research around the subject. It incorporates, in its sixth chapter, an innovative new case study comparing British relief efforts in Ireland with those in the colony of Mauritius, which also suffered from famine conditions in 1847.
— JOURNAL OF MODERN HISTORY
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The sources of financial and political instability
2. The economic policy reforms of Sir Robert Peel
3. Famine relief before the crises of 1847
4. Famine relief during and after the crises
5. The intentions and consequences of redistributive relief policy
6. Ireland and Mauritius: the British Empire's other famine in 1847
Conclusion: Britain's biggest economic-policy failure
Bibliography
Index
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The sources of financial and political instability
2. The economic policy reforms of Sir Robert Peel
3. Famine relief before the crises of 1847
4. Famine relief during and after the crises
5. The intentions and consequences of redistributive relief policy
6. Ireland and Mauritius: the British Empire's other famine in 1847
Conclusion: Britain's biggest economic-policy failure
Bibliography
Index