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The Irish: A Photohistory

History
Typography

Synopsis

The first Irish photographs date from 1840, a year after Louis Daguerre announced his discovery of the photographic process. In the century that followed, Ireland was to know tragedy and triumph, bitter struggle, and agonized compromise. Buy the Book!

In 1840 no one could have foreseen the catastrophe that was about to unfold in Ireland. The Great Famine killed over a million Irish poor between 1846 and 1851, and forced an even greater number to flee the horrors of their homeland. In the following decades, Irish political life was dominated by the struggle for land rights, for Home Rule, and ultimately for independence.These images of Ireland do more than tell a gripping political story. They give an insight into a people, a landscape, and a lost way of life. They evoke the grandeur, elegance, and complacency of life in the Big House, home and symbol of the Anglo- Irish elite. They reveal the hard labor of rural survival and they show the transforming impact of modernity, as industry, railways, and urban expansionslowly brought Ireland into a new era.

Publication Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-500-29079-8
224 pages
271 illustrations

Authors

Sean Sexton has been collecting historic photographs of Ireland for forty years. His passion and expertise have made him a leader in the field. Christine Kinealy is an Irish historian and author of over a dozen books on Irish history. She is Professor of History at the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, Drew University.
For more information, please contact:
Harry Burton at 212.391.4609 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Thames & Hudson books are distributed by W.W. Norton in the USA
and Penguin in Canada. Please visit thamesandhudsonusa.com

Reviews

“Lavishly produced…Full of rarely seen photos.”
—The Irish Echo

“Exceptional . . . a riveting visual chronicle, admirably unsentimental and richly informative.”
—The Irish Times