A good book on the Irish Politics that led to U.S.A. immigration in 1800s and 1900s. (England, Europeans)

[inquisitive2]

I'm looking for an interesting book which tells of the irish emigrating to the United States in large numbers.

I know of the potato famine; but, what else was happening politically and economically that forced so many to leave their homeland and their families behind?

[Therblig]

I'm sure there are many good books etc., but it really does boil down to the Famine. Just not in simple ways. The potato blight destroyed the basic food of most Irish families while other foods and such potatoes as could be produced were shipped to England. The politics were that most farms were owned by landlords, many of them English or English-supporting, and those who worked the farms had no say and no way to even keep their own crops for sustenance. English dinners had potatoes (and, I believe, Irish grain and mutton) while Irish children starved.

So the Irish began leaving in droves. They were accepted in the US at the time because they were white and largely English-speaking; it would be another two decades before southern Europeans were allowed in in any great numbers... partly because the cheap Irish labor had begun to organize and move up, as much as they were despised by many Americans in the early years.

I'm not sure anything beyond that is more than details.

[SunGrins]

My Irish ancestors survived the famine but came to the US in 1876. They had relatives that came earlier, some during the famine or as it was ending, and connected with them. The British overlords were hell bent to make life miserable for the Irish. They were deprived of their lands, church, and language and used as cannon fodder for the Empire. If you get to Dublin there is an excellent museum devoted to the Irish diaspora (EPIC museum linked below) that covers the full history of migration and the overseas Irish community.

https://epicchq.com/?utm_source=adwo...gaAjKrEALw_wcB