Ireland and the American Emigration, 1850-1900

This readable and interesting book provides new light on the social, economic, religious, and political impact on Ireland, thus broadening our understanding of Irish emigration during this period"" - The American Historical Review. Interest in the Great Irish Famine and Irish immigration to America remains high. Somewhat less attention, however, has been paid to those who stayed, those who wouldn't or couldn't leave. First published in 1958, Arnold Schrier's Ireland and the American Emigration was the first book to try to understand the effects of this exodus upon Ireland itself. Drawing on hundreds of emigrants' letters, he vividly describes the effects of emigration upon the customs and folkways of the people, and the unique ceremony of the ""american wake"" that celebrated the departure of relatives and friends. Schrier's fascinating history ultimately reveals to us a new Ireland, a post-Famine, post-emigration Ireland ready to step boldly into the economic and political maelstrom of the twentieth century.