The Irish in the New Communities

The Irish have emigrated in vast numbers for centuries. More than any other Europeans they have been obliged to transplant, maintain and develop a national culture in novel, indifferent or hostile surroundings. This series of six books is an account of their various experiences all over the world. It is a comprehensive synthesis - drawing on history, geography, social science, and studies of literature, music and the arts to provide a detailed picture of the experience of migration and assimiliation over the centuries to the present day. Thus the series represents a major contribution both to migration studies and to the history of Ireland and the many countries in which the Irish have settled. This second volume of the series is an account of how Irish migrants actually settled in their new homes and flourished (usually) in the European, American and Australian environments in which they found themselves. It looks particularly at the Irish relationship with the great cities, and the cultural and medical impact of migration - the organised and directed flight from the Irish language, and the psychological distress endemic within isolated and embattled Irish communities.
The book includes both case studies and theoretical chapters, and examines both elite and mass migration. Close attention is paid to the political and economic causes of Irish migration, past and present.