Emigrants and Exiles: Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America

TLDR

From the 1660s to the early 1900s, no fewer than seven million people emigrated from Ireland to North America, a vast flow that reflected and compelled enormous social changes on both sides of the Atlantic. The book chronicles the momentous causes of Irish emigration and its far‑reaching impact on the emigrants, the land they left, and the new land they settled. Using extensive original research, Miller examines ordinary Irish emigrants’ thoughts and behaviors through personal letters, diaries, songs, poems, and folklore, covering all successive waves and highlighting their differences and common bonds.

Abstract

From the 1660s to the early 1900s, no fewer than seven million people emigrated from Ireland to North America. This vast flow at once reflected and compelled enormous social changes on both sides of the Atlantic. In this book Miller chronicles the momentous causes of the Irish emigration and its far-reaching impact - on the people themselves, on the land they left behind, and on the new one they came to. Drawing on enormous original research, Miller focuses on the thought and behaviour of the ordinary Irish emigrants, Catholic and Protestant, as revealed in their personal letters, diaries, journals, and memoirs as well as in their songs, poems, and folklore. Monumental in scope, Emigrants and Exiles embraces all the successive waves of Irish emigration, illuminating their differences as well as their common bonds.