A Selected Bibliography

In the last 25 years or so, the "historiography" of the Famine (historical writing on that subject) has expanded markedly in quantity and in quality. Most of the older books listed below are available in local public libraries. Many of the more recent ones can be obtained commercially and in paperback form. The latter are marked with an asterisk. The best single volume about the Great Famine is that by James S. Donnelly, Jr.

[Click on "more" to obtain further information about each book].

  • Beckett, J.C. The Making of Modern Ireland, 1603 - 1923. New York:Knopf, 1973. more
  • Bourke, Austin. "The Visitation of God?": The Potato and the Great Irish Famine. Dublin: Lilliput Press, 1993. more
  • Coogan, Tim Pat, The Famine Plot: England's Role in Ireland's Greatest Tragedy. * New York :Palgrave ( St. Martin’s Press), 2001. more
  • Coogan, Tim Pat, Wherever Green Is Worn: The Story of the Irish Diaspora. * New York :Palgrave ( St. Martin’s Press), 2001.more
  • Donnelly, James S., Jr. The Great Irish Potato Famine. Phoenix Mill,* Gloucestershire, U.K.: Sutton Publishing Limited, 2001. more
  • Edwards, R. Dudley; Williams,T. Desmond. The Great Famine: Studies in Irish History, 1845-52. Dublin: Lilliput Press, 1994.* more
  • Engels, Fredrish, The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844. New York: Hard Press, 2006.* more
  • Foster, R.F.Modern Ireland: 1600-1972. New York: Penguin, 1990. more
  • Freeman, T.W. Pre-famineIreland: A Study in Historical Geography. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1957. more
  • Hayden, Tom, ed. Irish Hunger: Personal Reflections on the Legacy of the Famine. Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1997. more
  • Kinealy, Christine. This Great Calamity:The Irish Famine 1845-52. Dublin:* Boulder, CO: Robert Rinehart Publishing,1997. more
  • Laxton, Edward. The Famine Ships: The Irish Exodus to America. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996. more
  • Lyons, F.S.L. Ireland Since the Famine.Collins Fontana, 1973, 1971.* more
  • Miller, Kerby.Emigrants and Exiles: Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.* more
  • Mitchell, John; (Edited by Maume, Patrick.)The Last Conquest of Ireland (Perhaps)* Dublin: Dublin University Press, 2005. more
  • O’Grada, Cormac. Black ’47 and Beyond: The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy, and Memory. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1999.* more
  • Percival, John. The Great Famine: Ireland's Potato Famine 1845-51. New York: Viewer Books, 1995. more
  • Woodham-Smith, Cecil. The Great Hunger: Ireland 1845-1849, London: Penguin Books, 1991, 1962 more