Rot

“Rot is a book I have longed to read. Framing the Irish Famine within the context of the British empire is revelatory. An incredibly important work.”

“Crisply written and based on an impressive range of contemporary sources, Padraic Scanlan’s Rot is the best kind of historical writing—the kind that makes you want to sit down for a long discussion with the author. British observers saw the Irish famine as a case of a premodern society paying the price of its backwardness. In reality, Scanlan argues, its vulnerability arose because it was a precocious forerunner of the sort of ruthlessly competitive, export-oriented market economy that today blights the lives of millions around the globe. Rot is essential reading for anyone wanting to see Ireland’s traumatic experience placed in an international context.”
 

“Rot is a moving modern history of the Great Potato Famine. With great insight and impeccable research, Padraic X. Scanlan vividly brings this terrible catastrophe and the stories of its heroes and villains back to life.”

“Rot brilliantly blends economic, social, and environmental history to deliver a stunning new account of one of nineteenth-century Europe’s most shameful tragedies. Padraic Scanlan joins clear-eyed, comprehensive research and analysis to deliver a persuasive indictment of faith in free markets. As illuminating as it is harrowing, Rot is a must-read for anybody interested in the histories of capitalism and empire.”