Emigrants and Exiles: Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America

Front Cover
Oxford University Press, 1988 - History - 684 pages
Rich in human detail, penetrating in analysis, this book is social history on an epic scale. The first "transatlantic" history of the Irish, Emigrants and Exiles offers the fullest account yet of the diverse waves of Irish emigration to North America.

Drawing on enormous original research, Miller focuses on the thought and behavior of the "ordinary" Irish emigrants, as revealed in their personal letters, diaries, journals, and memoirs as well as in their songs, poems and folklore. Miller shows that the exile mentality was deeply rooted in Irish history, culture and personality, and it profoundly affected both the traumatic course of modern Irish history and the Irish experience in America.
 

Contents

Introduction
3
THE MAKING
9
Ireland before the Great Famine
26
The Culture of Exile
102
THE PATTERNS
131
Irish Emigration
137
Irish Emigration
169
The PreFamine
193
The Great Famine
280
Ireland and PostFamine
345
Tradition and Expediency
427
The PostFamine Emigrants
492
Conclusion
556
Copyright

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About the author (1988)

Kerby A. Miller is Associate Professor of History at the University of Missouri, Columbia.