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This pioneering study is the first to describe, on a world-wide basis, the complex phenomenon of the Irish diaspora. In a thought-provoking, accessible text Akenson examines population movements out of Ireland into Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Great Britain and the United States. He sets the importance of the Famine in its context and considers issues such as the significance of women in Irish emigration. His straightforward, comprehensible approach makes this an essential primer for anyone with an interest in ethnic history and the meeting of different cultures. "...Indispensable for every student in the field." The Times Literary Supplement "...This seminal book is an important introduction to discussions about the diaspora because of its cautionary approach to the subject and its unbiased representation of every facet of it..." Irish University Review
"This is an exceptional book, and while no doubt ideal as a 'primer' for academics approaching the subject, also a useful conspectus for the interested layman who means to go no further." Books Ireland
Donald Harman Akenson, Professor of History at ³ÉÈË´óƬ, Kingston, Ontario, is one of the world's leading authorities on Irish history. He received his bachelor's degree from Yale and his PhD from Harvard. The author of twenty books, including five novels, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society (Canada) and of the Royal Historical Society (U.K.). He has held both a Guggenheim Fellowship and a writing fellowship at Villa Serbelloni, Bellagio, Como. In 1993 he received the prestigious Grawmeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order, for his book God's People: Covenant and Land in South Africa, Israel and Ulster (1992). In 1996 he was named Molson Prize Laureate; this is Canada's highest cultural award.