The Famine Ships: The Irish Exodus to America

Between 1846 and 1851 more than one-million people--the potato famine emigrants--sailed from Ireland to America. Now 150 years later The Famine Ships tells of the courage and determination of those who crossed the Atlantic in leaky overcrowded sailing ships and made new lives for themselves among them the child Henry Ford and the twenty-six-year-old Patrick Kennedy great-grandfather of John F. Kennedy. Edward Laxton conducted five years of research in Ireland and interviewed the emigrants descents in the U.S. Portraits of people ships and towns as well as facsimile passenger lists and tickets are among the fascinating memorabilia in The Famine Ships.