The Great Shame: And the Triumph of the Irish in the English-Speaking World | 
|  | | | Title: | The Great Shame: And the Triumph of the Irish in the English-Speaking World | | Author: | Thomas Keneally | | Publisher: | Anchor | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 12 September, 2000 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0385720262 / 9780385720267 | | List Price: | $19.95 | | You Save: | $4.39 | | Amazon Price: | $15.56 | |
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Product Description
In The Great Shame, Thomas Keneally--the bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of Schindler's List--combines the authority of a brilliant historian and the narrative grace of a great novelist to present a gripping account of the Irish diaspora.
The nineteenth century saw Ireland lose half of its population to famine, emigration, or deportation to penal colonies in Australia--often for infractions as common as stealing food. Among the victims of this tragedy were Thomas Keneally's own forebearers, and they were his inspiration to tell the story of the Irish who struggled and ultimately triumphed in Australia and North America. Relying on rare primary sources--including personal letters, court transcripts, ship manifests, and military documents--Keneally offers new and important insights into the impact of the Irish in exile. The result is a vivid saga of heroes and villains, from Great Famine protesters to American Civil War generals to great orators and politicians.
Amazon.com Review
The Booker Prize-winning Schindler's List (on which Steven Spielberg based his Oscar-winning film) demonstrated that Thomas Keneally could make history as compelling as any novel. His latest book, The Great Shame, expands upon the achievement of his earlier fiction. This is more than just the story of the Keneally family tree, transported from Ireland to Australia in the 19th-century. It is the story of how Irish men and women came to be dispersed all over the world, and what they made of their lives in their new homes. It is the epic history of a whole people. The Great Shame is hypnotically readable, partly because Keneally weaves his many narrative strands so expertly and touches his story with many moments of beautiful writing, but also because it is all, even at its most extraordinary, completely true. The result is astonishingly vivid. What The Great Shame most resembles is a classic 19th-century novel: Dickens, say, or George Eliot. Readers avidly follow Keneally's characters through their successes and their trials, until the very last sentence in the book when, like a master from the classic age of the novel, Keneally pays tribute to "the piquant blood and potent ghosts of the characters to whom we now bid goodbye." --Adam Roberts
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Customer Reviews:
• A Portrait Of A People's Tragedy And Triumph! 29 July, 2006
I thought the strong point of Thomas Keneally's brilliant work The Great Shame was his ability to capture the personalities of the various characters as well as the persistent, hardheaded, determined nature of the Irish in general. It is amazing how so often this scandalous treatment akin to genocide of the Irish is forgotten by history in general. Keneally has done a service to all to recount so accurately the destruction and resurrection of a people. Highly recommended!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3N0NC446HYN9T
• Three Books In One 26 August, 2006
This is really three books in one: 1) the story of humble James Larkin of Lismany, Co. Galway 2) the story of James Meagher and Young Ireland and 3) the story of the Fenians of the later 19th century.
Author Thomas Keneally does a noteworthy job in writing all three narratives and integrating them to the degree possible -- which is some but not much. A more accurate title might be "Three Profiles in Irish Deportation" as this is what the principal subjects have in common.
With such a sprawling set of geographies and subjects, editing this book into a narrative must have been quite a challenge. But with the major support which Mr. Kinneally's earlier works have earned, the editing job is accomplished with good results.
I recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn about Judicial Transportation to Australia, the Irish Brigade of the American Civil War, and the Young Ireland movement, or just more about 19th century Ireland in general.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2T3DYIKSXJFAS
• The Irish Are Survivors 24 October, 2003
Keneally's book will be a classic.He has captured the Irish Diaspora as none could do better.This is a huge story covering time,places, politics,love,hate,family,oppression,wars,peace;but through it all the determination of a race to survive. Keneally writes so well that he makes it seem that he was right there all the time and that you are travelling right along with him. Even the Irish ,however you want to define what is Irish,will find that the spread and influence of the Irish is far greater than ever realized. After so many other's attempts it took an Australian of Keneally's stature to write the story so well. So many resort to fiction to tell a story,but Keneally tells the story magnificently and does it with facts.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A18OBUSMXVE8R0
• An Engrossing Account 02 October, 2006
This account of Australia and Ireland tells a fantastic story, weaving in events of the 19th century with the men who fought for Ireland and were shipped as prisoners to Australia. It is often a sad story, but certainly holds one's intereat. Some of the mistakes in the book can be attributed I suppose to the auhor's lack of familiarity with U.S. politics. I confess I was disturbed by Keneally's frequent use of the word "Democrat" as an adjective. I thought everybody knew that the adjective is "Democratic", NOT "Democrat." "Democrat" is a noun. This mistake must appear at least 25 times in the book, and one wonders where his proofreaders were. Other mistakes are minor by comparison. On page 258 he discribes Lewis Cass as a Senator from Ohio, whereas he was actually a Senator from Michigan. On the same page he says James Shields was first a Senator from Minnesota. The fact is Shields was first a Senator from Illinois, then a Senator from Minnesota, and finally a Senator from Missouri--the only person ever to be a United States Senator from three different states.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A20HMA36ESANHC
• Long, Detailed, And Worthwhile 08 May, 2003
Thomas Keneally's The Great Shame was very well documented and extremely detailed and vivid but twice as long as many contemporary histories (605 pages of text). A commitment is needed to follow the story of the Ribbonmen, Fenians and the Young Ireland Movement; the trial of William Smith O'Brien; the deportation of political prisoners to Australia; the amazing story of General Thomas Meagher of the US Union army; and the sad story of John Michell, a Confederate.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3VIOCJZ22JZXT
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