Christine Kinealy is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, where she earned her doctorate. She is Professor of Irish Studies in the Caspersen Graduate School at Drew University, USA, and, in the spring of 2012, was Visiting Scholar in Residence at Quinnipiac University, USA. She is the author of several books on the Irish Famine, including the award-winning This Great Calamity: The Irish Famine, 1845-52 (2006).
Kinealy (Irish studies, Drew Univ.) has published extensively on the famine and contributes here the most comprehensive work on private charity to date.In this well-researched study, Kinealy properly credits the contributions of the Quakers in offering much immediate aid and bearing witness to the tragedy and also brings to light the roles of the leading aid organization (the British Relief Association), the Irish General Central Relief Committee, the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant churches, the Irish diaspora (especially in the US), women's groups, and many others. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. -- A. H. Plunkett * Piedmont Virginia Community College *