Overview

It started in 1845 and lasted six years. Before it was over, more than one million men, women, and children starved to death and another million fled the country. Measured in terms of mortality, the Great Irish Potato Famine was one of the worst disasters in the nineteenth century--it claimed twice as many lives as the American Civil War. A perfect storm of bacterial infection, political greed, and religious intolerance sparked this catastrophe. But even more extraordinary than its scope were its political underpinnings, and The Graves Are Walking provides fresh material and analysis on the role that nineteenth-century evangelical Protestantism played in shaping British policies and on Britain's attempt to use the famine to reshape Irish society and character. Perhaps most important, this is ultimately a story of triumph over perceived destiny: for fifty million Americans of Irish heritage, the saga of a broken people fleeing crushing starvation and remaking themselves in a new land is an inspiring story of exoneration. Based on extensive research and written with novelistic flair, The Graves Are Walking draws a portrait that is both intimate and panoramic, that captures the drama of individual lives caught up in an unimaginable tragedy, while imparting a new understanding of the famine's causes and consequences.

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"[Kelly's] exhaustive research covers every aspect, threading the gruesome events into a huge panoramic tapestry that reveals political greed lurking behind the pestilence.-- ""Publishers Weekly Starred Review"""

Author Information

John Kelly is an independent scholar specializing in the intersection of European history with health, human behavior, and science. His books include The Graves Are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People, The Most Devastating Plague of all Time, Three on the Edge, and Never Surrender: Winston Churchill and Britain's Decision to Fight Nazi Germany in the Fateful Summer of 1940, among others. Gerard Doyle records everything from adult, young adult, and children's books to literary fiction, mysteries, humor, adventure, and fantasy. He has won countless AudioFile Earphones Awards, including for A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle, and was named a Best Voice in Young Adult Fiction in 2008. His audiobook credits include Clubland by Frank Owen, And Thereby Hangs a Tale by Jeffrey Archer, The Distant Echo by Val McDermid, and A Risk Worth Taking by Robin Pilcher. His career in British repertory theater includes many productions, most notably The Crucible, The Tempest, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Fiddler on the Roof. He has also appeared on television, including New York Undercover and Law & Order.

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