History Corner: The Coffin Ship : Life and Death at Sea during the Great Irish Famine by Cian T. McMahon

 Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook free of charge, from NYU Press via Edelweissplus, for review purposes on this blog. No compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it, all opinions are my own

A vivid, new portrait of Irish migration through the letters and diaries of those who fled their homeland during the Great Famine

Synopsis:

The standard story of the exodus during Ireland’s Great Famine is one of tired clichés, half-truths, and dry statistics. In The Coffin Ship, a groundbreaking work of transnational history, Cian T. McMahon offers a vibrant, fresh perspective on an oft-ignored but vital component of the migration experience: the journey itself.

Between 1845 and 1855, over two million people fled Ireland to escape the Great Famine and begin new lives abroad. The so-called “coffin ships” they embarked on have since become infamous icons of nineteenth-century migration. The crews were brutal, the captains were heartless, and the weather was ferocious. Yet the personal experiences of the emigrants aboard these vessels offer us a much more complex understanding of this pivotal moment in modern history. Based on archival research on three continents and written in clear, crisp prose, The Coffin Ship analyzes the emigrants’ own letters and diaries to unpack the dynamic social networks that the Irish built while voyaging overseas. At every stage of the journey—including the treacherous weeks at sea—these migrants created new threads in the worldwide web of the Irish diaspora.

Colored by the long-lost voices of the emigrants themselves, this is an original portrait of a process that left a lasting mark on Irish life at home and abroad. An indispensable read, The Coffin Ship makes an ambitious argument for placing the sailing ship alongside the tenement and the factory floor as a central, dynamic element of migration history

Review:

This is an amazing work of educational review of documentation that has been available, but never truly looked at as part of the overall picture. Think of different pieces of a jigsaw, that has been the different experiences of a wide varied amount of Irish immigrants. Each has their own story to tell, but when placed within the larger pieces of the jigsaw, you get a more thorough picture of the overall experience. And that experience may not be what you thought it was. 

This is an important story of how the immigrant groups bonded on ship and worked together, and then upon arrival kept the same bonds, that allowed them to keep their culture in place, and to strengthen the bonds to the old country. This book goes a long way in helping you to understand the strong ties today still to Ireland and why so many Irish Americans see themselves as that, versus just Americans. It's an interesting look at a known subject,but in a different way. Highly recommended for those who love history, and those who specially love Irish history.

Series:

THE GLUCKSMAN IRISH DIASPORA SERIES

Ten million Irish men, women and children have left Ireland and settled abroad since 1700. Remarkably, this figure is more than twice the population of the Republic of Ireland today, it exceeds the population of the island of Ireland, and it is greater than the population of Ireland at its peak on the eve of the Great Famine. The Glucksman Irish Diaspora Series focuses on Irish migrants in North America and around the world, emphasizing the global and imperial contexts and connections at the heart of diaspora history. Books examining interactions and comparisons between migrants in their various countries of settlement feature prominently , as do works that consider the American Irish in conjunction with other immigrant groups in the United States. Each book in the series embeds strong historical analysis in a gripping narrative. Major themes include migration, diaspora, empire, labor, religion, politics, and nationalism. The series is published with the support of Glucksman Ireland House, the center for the the study of Ireland, Irish America, and the Irish diaspora at New York University.

About the Author:

Cian T. McMahon is Associate Professor in the Department of History and Honors College at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and author of The Global Dimensions of Irish Identity: Race, Nation, and the Popular Press, 1840-1880 (2015).