Ireland 1845-1850: The Perfect Holocaust
Chris Fogarty, Mary O'Sullivan Fogarty, signed by author
$25.00

s/t: And Who Kept it ‘Perfect’
3rd U.S. edition with 92 pages more than the 1st
I applaud Chris Fogarty for his bravery in coming out with this revisionist history of the events leading up to the mass Irish immigration of the 19th century. The reason is known as the “famine,” but as Fogarty claims, it was not a famine but a genocide. The key here is, as Fogarty notes, there was plenty of food in Ireland and the British were removing food at various ports throughout the country, making this a genocide and not a famine. “Potato famine” is the accepted trope established by academia, the government and media. As a researcher of 19th-century Italian history, I see parallels with the Italian experience. Fogarty’s book is written in chronological order, documenting the events of oppression through time. In the back of the book, he has exhibits of factual information to back up his claims. He has also created a full-color, tear-out map of the mass graves and ports where food was being removed. He visits “famine” memorials and events, passing out this map to document this history. He and his wife have faced harassment as a result. This history cannot and should not be forgotten, yet who else is documenting it? It is absolutely absurd to imply the Irish did not know how to cook/grow anything but potatoes, as some have suggested as a reason for the famine. I think Fogarty has created a compelling argument for a genocide as opposed to a famine.–Dina Maio