Dimensions
135 x 203 x 22mm
At the height of the Famine, an Anglo-Irish landlord named Major Denis Mahon from County Roscommon was assassinated as he drove his carriage through his property, which was filled with thousands of starving tenants. Mahon had removed some 3,000 of his 12,000 tenants by offering some passage to America, giving others a pound or two to surrender peaceably, and sending the sheriff to evict the rest. The death sparked a sensation, leading many of the world's most powerful leaders to weight in on its meaning, including the Queen of England, the British Prime Minister, and the Pope of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.
Award-winning journalist Peter Duffy tells, for the first time, the story of the assassination and its connection to the cataclysm that would forever change Ireland and America. With full access to the surviving primary sources, including Mahon's private papers, other family documents, and McDermott's letters, Duffy endeavors to come to the truth about Mahon's murder and who is really to blame for the suffering on his estate, while also shedding new light on the life-and-death struggles of the peasants in an incredible narrative of an unforgettable moment in history.
