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Abstract

This is undoubtedly the best book on Ireland to appear for some time; it could easily be used as a textbook on the ge - ography of the island. Much of its success stems, oddly enough, from the fact that its author, though of Irish descent, has spent much of his adult life else - where (he teaches at the University of Lancaster, England), thus providing himself with the sort of calm detachment required to understand the often inexplicable turnings of this troubled island. Underlying any comprehension of Ireland (in any century) is its intricate, bitter relationship with Great Britain, which began with the 12th century con - quest by the Anglo -Normans and con - tinues to make headlines today. Within the context of this long-simmering feud, two decisive periods stand out, particu - larly considering the human geography of the Irish lands, as this book proposes to do. First of these is the disastrous potato famine of the 1840s, in which one million people may have died and an additional 3-4 million forced to emi - grate, mainly to North America. Johnson is wisely skeptical of the numbers involved, given the imprecision of con - temporary statistics; but these is no doubt that it was a calamity on a major scale, creating an Irish diaspora which still views the "old country" with a mix of patronage and nostalgia. One of the most telling statistics in all of human population history is that a census in Ireland in 1841 , on the eve of the fam - ine, recorded some 8 .1 mill ion persons, whereas the population of the island to - day is about 4.6 million! Has any other country in the world actually lost 40% of

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