Author: Kevin Corrigan Kearns
Number Of Pages: 304
Publisher: Gill & Macmillan Ltd
Release Date: 07-10-2011
Details: Product Description The Irish winter of 1947 was the coldest and longest of the 20th Century. From shortly after Christmas to almost Easter, the country was gripped by snow and ice; transport ground to a halt. The normal supply of goods and services was suspended. All this happened in a country much poorer than modern Ireland. It was only two years after the end of the war. There was still rationing in Britain. The Irish economy was woefully underdeveloped. There was no central heating, and the distribution systems for coal and turf broke down. Even in relatively affluent middle class suburbs, people were reduced to breaking up furniture for kindling in an attempt to keep warm. In rural parts, the old and vulnerable were hopelessly isolated. People died. In time, the memory faded and it was just remembered as an exceptionally cold winter. Kevin Kearns gets behind the headlines to reveal in tremendous detail the hardship, depravation and loss of life that gripped a vulnerable country as a result of an extended period of freakishly cold weather. Review Kevin C Kearns... has produced a narrative history based on extensive research and many first-hand accounts. --The Sunday Times, October 18 2012 "... his sharp style and a flair for storytelling make for a fantastic read." --The Sunday Times, Sunday, December 18, 2011 "... a graphic account of what was regarded as a near-biblical calamity..." --Killarney Advertiser, Friday, December 23, 2011 About the Author Kevin Kearns is a former Professor of Social Geography at the University of North Colorado and an oral historian. He has been an annual visitor to Dublin for over thirty years and is the author of a distinguished series of oral histories of the city, including the classic Dublin Tenement Life (1996), Dublin Voices (2001), Dublin's Lost Heroines (2004) and The Bombing of Dublin's North Strand (2009).
EAN: 9780717148639
Package Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.7 inches
Languages: English
Binding: Hardcover
Item Condition: UsedVeryGood