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Plentiful Country: The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York
From the award-winning author of Five Points and City of Dreams , a breathtaking new history of the Irish immigrants who arrived in the United States during the Great Potato Famine, showing how their strivings in and beyond New York exemplify the astonishing tenacity and improbable triumph of Irish America.
In 1845, a fungus began to destroy Ireland’s potato crop, triggering a famine that would kill one million Irish men, women, and children—and drive over one million more to flee for America. Ten years later, the United States had been transformed by this stupendous migration, nowhere more than New by 1855, roughly a third of all adults living in Manhattan were immigrants who had escaped the hunger in Ireland. These so-called “Famine Irish” were the forebears of four U.S. presidents (including Joe Biden) yet when they arrived in America they were consigned to the lowest-paying jobs and subjected to discrimination and ridicule by their new countrymen. Even today, the popular perception of these immigrants is one of destitution and despair. But when we let the Famine Irish narrate their own stories, they paint a far different picture.
In this magisterial work of storytelling and scholarship, acclaimed historian Tyler Anbinder presents for the first time the Famine generation’s individual and collective tales of struggle, perseverance, and triumph. Drawing on newly available records and an astonishing ten-year research initiative, Anbinder reclaims the narratives of the refugees who settled in New York City and helped reshape the entire nation. Plentiful Country is a tour de force—a book that rescues the Famine immigrants from the margins of history and restores them to their rightful place at the center of the American story.
In 1845, a fungus began to destroy Ireland’s potato crop, triggering a famine that would kill one million Irish men, women, and children—and drive over one million more to flee for America. Ten years later, the United States had been transformed by this stupendous migration, nowhere more than New by 1855, roughly a third of all adults living in Manhattan were immigrants who had escaped the hunger in Ireland. These so-called “Famine Irish” were the forebears of four U.S. presidents (including Joe Biden) yet when they arrived in America they were consigned to the lowest-paying jobs and subjected to discrimination and ridicule by their new countrymen. Even today, the popular perception of these immigrants is one of destitution and despair. But when we let the Famine Irish narrate their own stories, they paint a far different picture.
In this magisterial work of storytelling and scholarship, acclaimed historian Tyler Anbinder presents for the first time the Famine generation’s individual and collective tales of struggle, perseverance, and triumph. Drawing on newly available records and an astonishing ten-year research initiative, Anbinder reclaims the narratives of the refugees who settled in New York City and helped reshape the entire nation. Plentiful Country is a tour de force—a book that rescues the Famine immigrants from the margins of history and restores them to their rightful place at the center of the American story.
512 pages, Hardcover
Published March 12, 2024
25 people are currently reading
961 people want to read
About the author
Tyler Anbinder
13 books72 followersTyler Anbinder is an Associate Professor of History at George Washington University. His first book, Nativism and Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings and the Politics of the 1850's, was a New York Times Book Review Notable Book and the winner of the Avery Craven Prize of the Organization of American Historians. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
May 6, 2024
Plentiful Country is an in depth look at the Great Famine in Ireland in the 1840s and the resulting migration of a generation of Irish men, women and children to America, with specific attention to those who chose to come to New York City. After an introduction to the causes of the famine and its extent throughout Ireland, as well as the British role in causing and exacerbating the illness and deaths, Anbinder presents, in meticulous detail, portraits of some emigrants who left various small towns or cities in Ireland singly, in small groups or occasionally as families to start over as their home country appeared to offer little to nothing but illness or death.
The author’s aim is to use newly discovered and available information from Emigrant Savings Bank located in New York City and founded in 1850 at the height of the Irish Famine emigration to provide demographic details never previously available on the lives of many of these new Americans. As it happened, this bank not only took their account holders’ names and addresses, they also took a history of each person including where they had come from in Ireland, who they migrated with, their employment, etc. And the information was updated over the years as people had families, moved, even left the city. This allowed a picture of the course of Irish immigrants’ lives, work, and success or failure to be tracked over time (when combined with other available data).
The overarching question was—is the accepted view that Irish Famine emigrants were for the most part unsuccessful, only able to get and keep low level work with few exceptions, true? Anbinder’s findings refute what many prior historians had held to be fact. His charts and stories provide the facts.
While at times the sheer enumeration of facts can feel repetitive and a bit overwhelming, the individual stories are very often inspiring and give an excellent insight into how the Famine Irish migration impacted the city of New York and the country as a whole.
Those Irish relatives of mine that I have been able to trace arrived through Canada, but there are others I haven’t been able to follow so perhaps some of them came through this New York route. Whether or not, I think anyone with Irish ancestry will find facts of interest in this text.
Thanks to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for an eARC of this book. This review is my own.
The author’s aim is to use newly discovered and available information from Emigrant Savings Bank located in New York City and founded in 1850 at the height of the Irish Famine emigration to provide demographic details never previously available on the lives of many of these new Americans. As it happened, this bank not only took their account holders’ names and addresses, they also took a history of each person including where they had come from in Ireland, who they migrated with, their employment, etc. And the information was updated over the years as people had families, moved, even left the city. This allowed a picture of the course of Irish immigrants’ lives, work, and success or failure to be tracked over time (when combined with other available data).
The overarching question was—is the accepted view that Irish Famine emigrants were for the most part unsuccessful, only able to get and keep low level work with few exceptions, true? Anbinder’s findings refute what many prior historians had held to be fact. His charts and stories provide the facts.
While at times the sheer enumeration of facts can feel repetitive and a bit overwhelming, the individual stories are very often inspiring and give an excellent insight into how the Famine Irish migration impacted the city of New York and the country as a whole.
Those Irish relatives of mine that I have been able to trace arrived through Canada, but there are others I haven’t been able to follow so perhaps some of them came through this New York route. Whether or not, I think anyone with Irish ancestry will find facts of interest in this text.
Thanks to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for an eARC of this book. This review is my own.
March 1, 2024
As the grandson of Irish immigrants "right off the boat," I was very excited to dive into Tyler Anbinder's Plentiful Country. While my grandparents were not Famine immigrants, the Irish experience landing in America is well known within the community even to this day. If there is one thing that I feel no one can argue with, Anbinder did extensive research and it shows.
Anbinder is basically writing about what happened to the Irish immigrants of the Great Potato Famine when they got to New York and how their lives ended up. Anbinder also gives an excellent rundown of the reasons and consequences of the Great Potato Famine. He doesn't let the British government off the hook, either, which means I don't need to rant about it here.
Anbinder then breaks down each class of immigrant such as unskilled laborers or business owners and traces their lives. What Anbinder is really trying to do is refute a false historical narrative that Irish immigrants came to America and didn't rise about their stations. The author emphatically proves this wrong with personal narratives but also actual numbers. If you want to argue with Anbinder, go right ahead, but you better so some research because he is going to show up with charts. I know this because the charts are in the book. I love them.
I will say that this narrative does lose a little steam because of the sheer weight of the numbers along with the fact that each class gets its own in-depth chapter. It probably could have been a little shorter and still made its points. It's a minor issue and doesn't hinder someone who is interested in this subject from enjoying it while learning way more than you would expect.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company.)
Anbinder is basically writing about what happened to the Irish immigrants of the Great Potato Famine when they got to New York and how their lives ended up. Anbinder also gives an excellent rundown of the reasons and consequences of the Great Potato Famine. He doesn't let the British government off the hook, either, which means I don't need to rant about it here.
Anbinder then breaks down each class of immigrant such as unskilled laborers or business owners and traces their lives. What Anbinder is really trying to do is refute a false historical narrative that Irish immigrants came to America and didn't rise about their stations. The author emphatically proves this wrong with personal narratives but also actual numbers. If you want to argue with Anbinder, go right ahead, but you better so some research because he is going to show up with charts. I know this because the charts are in the book. I love them.
I will say that this narrative does lose a little steam because of the sheer weight of the numbers along with the fact that each class gets its own in-depth chapter. It probably could have been a little shorter and still made its points. It's a minor issue and doesn't hinder someone who is interested in this subject from enjoying it while learning way more than you would expect.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company.)
December 16, 2024
HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY!!! :)
Thanks to NetGalley; Little, Brown and Company; and Hatchette Audio for ARC copies of this ebook and audiobook!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Despite completing my degree being specialized in Gilded Age America, a lot of this was new information. Many of the Irish immigrants came over before that time period, but there were plenty of examples of these men and women leaving lasting impacts on their communities in its midst. So, I loved getting more information on this micro-history!
Tyler Anbinder has given us a wonderfully researched and detailed history of the Irish migration to America in the 19th century. I didn't realize how huge and influential their demographic truly was in New York! A lot of the research appears to stem from bank ledgers and documents that allowed individuals and families to be tracked. Anbinder gives examples of Irishmen working in a variety of different jobs and in several different social classes. We see some rise and others fall. A handful are able to give their children a leg-up and a few times prosperity is squandered. There is variety in these stories, but also consistency. None of the information feels like it's too minute and detailed to be relevant, but as a historian/reader, I'm also not left with unanswered questions. The balance is great! I would definitely recommend this one.
Thanks to NetGalley; Little, Brown and Company; and Hatchette Audio for ARC copies of this ebook and audiobook!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Despite completing my degree being specialized in Gilded Age America, a lot of this was new information. Many of the Irish immigrants came over before that time period, but there were plenty of examples of these men and women leaving lasting impacts on their communities in its midst. So, I loved getting more information on this micro-history!
Tyler Anbinder has given us a wonderfully researched and detailed history of the Irish migration to America in the 19th century. I didn't realize how huge and influential their demographic truly was in New York! A lot of the research appears to stem from bank ledgers and documents that allowed individuals and families to be tracked. Anbinder gives examples of Irishmen working in a variety of different jobs and in several different social classes. We see some rise and others fall. A handful are able to give their children a leg-up and a few times prosperity is squandered. There is variety in these stories, but also consistency. None of the information feels like it's too minute and detailed to be relevant, but as a historian/reader, I'm also not left with unanswered questions. The balance is great! I would definitely recommend this one.
March 2, 2024
Plentiful Country - The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York written by Tyler Anbinder and narrated by David McCusker is a thoroughly reseached, highly detailed story of individual and collective stories of the Irish immigrants who are the very foundation of New York
This beautifully narrated audiobook details how Irish immigrants fled the potato famine in their native Ireland, seeking a new life in America, braving an arduous journey across the Atlantic, and in turn. transforming New York into the bustling metropolitan hub of the world that it is today, and indeed, the United States of America as a whole by their contribution in the War of Independance. These are just two of the examples covered in this stuning chronicle
Anbinder writes with excepttional eloquence about the facts of the migration and at the same time, is able to delve into the human aspect of this huge influx of people and their profound effect in shaping the nation. It is truly incredible how Anbinder has brought together so much information and retained its core hmanity
David McCusker reads this audiobook with an authentic, measured flow and a gentle cadence which is a joy to listen to. As lyrical as it is strong, the book is brought to vivid clarity by this narration
Thank you to Netgalley, Hachette Audio, Little, Brown & Company, the author Tyler Anbinder and narrator David McCusker for this highly immersive and informatvie ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own
This beautifully narrated audiobook details how Irish immigrants fled the potato famine in their native Ireland, seeking a new life in America, braving an arduous journey across the Atlantic, and in turn. transforming New York into the bustling metropolitan hub of the world that it is today, and indeed, the United States of America as a whole by their contribution in the War of Independance. These are just two of the examples covered in this stuning chronicle
Anbinder writes with excepttional eloquence about the facts of the migration and at the same time, is able to delve into the human aspect of this huge influx of people and their profound effect in shaping the nation. It is truly incredible how Anbinder has brought together so much information and retained its core hmanity
David McCusker reads this audiobook with an authentic, measured flow and a gentle cadence which is a joy to listen to. As lyrical as it is strong, the book is brought to vivid clarity by this narration
Thank you to Netgalley, Hachette Audio, Little, Brown & Company, the author Tyler Anbinder and narrator David McCusker for this highly immersive and informatvie ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own
September 30, 2025
this book represents a truly unimaginable amount of genealogical footwork and made me want to blow up england. 5/5
Read
January 4, 2024This was a fascinating look at Irish Famine Immigrants and the cultural and economic impact they had on the America. The author is able to extrapolate an astonishing amount of detail on the lives of Famine Immigrant from bank records, and I appreciated the thoroughness with which he explored each different class of workers, while also telling compelling stories of individuals. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the Great Potato Famine and the resulting surge of immigration to the United States. Thanks to the publisher Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.
July 26, 2024
I was honestly really disappointed. It is an incredibly interesting topic and could have been an amazing story to tell. Unfortunately, the book is basically just a list of Irish immigrants, what job they did, and how much money they saved. Which, don't get me wrong, was sort of interesting for the first 200-300 pages but had severely diminishing returns afterwards.
May 28, 2024
4 3/4 stars. My visits to Ireland and NYC (and the East-side Tenement Museum) this year ignited my desire to better understand both the historical situations which contributed to the potato famine and the experiences of the Irish immigrants in the US. This book was very well researched and presented well. I love engrossing nonfiction!
October 27, 2025
This was interesting but extremely repetitive.
February 8, 2025
"From the award-winning author of Five Points and City of Dreams , a breathtaking new history of the Irish immigrants who arrived in the United States during the Great Potato Famine, showing how their strivings in and beyond New York exemplify the astonishing tenacity and improbable triumph of Irish America.
In 1845, a fungus began to destroy Ireland’s potato crop, triggering a famine that would kill one million Irish men, women, and children—and drive over one million more to flee for America. Ten years later, the United States had been transformed by this stupendous migration, nowhere more than New by 1855, roughly a third of all adults living in Manhattan were immigrants who had escaped the hunger in Ireland. These so-called “Famine Irish” were the forebears of four U.S. presidents (including Joe Biden) yet when they arrived in America they were consigned to the lowest-paying jobs and subjected to discrimination and ridicule by their new countrymen. Even today, the popular perception of these immigrants is one of destitution and despair. But when we let the Famine Irish narrate their own stories, they paint a far different picture.
In this magisterial work of storytelling and scholarship, acclaimed historian Tyler Anbinder presents for the first time the Famine generation’s individual and collective tales of struggle, perseverance, and triumph. Drawing on newly available records and an astonishing ten-year research initiative, Anbinder reclaims the narratives of the refugees who settled in New York City and helped reshape the entire nation. Plentiful Country is a tour de force—a book that rescues the Famine immigrants from the margins of history and restores them to their rightful place at the center of the American story."
Interesting information but 402 pages of history made for some dull reading.
In 1845, a fungus began to destroy Ireland’s potato crop, triggering a famine that would kill one million Irish men, women, and children—and drive over one million more to flee for America. Ten years later, the United States had been transformed by this stupendous migration, nowhere more than New by 1855, roughly a third of all adults living in Manhattan were immigrants who had escaped the hunger in Ireland. These so-called “Famine Irish” were the forebears of four U.S. presidents (including Joe Biden) yet when they arrived in America they were consigned to the lowest-paying jobs and subjected to discrimination and ridicule by their new countrymen. Even today, the popular perception of these immigrants is one of destitution and despair. But when we let the Famine Irish narrate their own stories, they paint a far different picture.
In this magisterial work of storytelling and scholarship, acclaimed historian Tyler Anbinder presents for the first time the Famine generation’s individual and collective tales of struggle, perseverance, and triumph. Drawing on newly available records and an astonishing ten-year research initiative, Anbinder reclaims the narratives of the refugees who settled in New York City and helped reshape the entire nation. Plentiful Country is a tour de force—a book that rescues the Famine immigrants from the margins of history and restores them to their rightful place at the center of the American story."
Interesting information but 402 pages of history made for some dull reading.
June 29, 2024
As the title indicates, this is a look at the Irish who came to New York City in the 1840s and how they got by. The popular image is of a very downtrodden group stuck on bottom, but Anbinder offers a different thesis: he thinks people have underestimated the degree the immigrants moved up the ladder the economic ladder of status. He has a main source for this: extremely detailed bank records kept by the Emigrant Savings Bank founded by the Irish Emigrant Society that many Irish kept their savings in.
The book does a nice job presenting evidence of Irish moving up the ladder. Anbinder looks at the records and sees where people started - yeah, many were common laborers, but even early on many were not. Then he traces each economic group (common laborers, skilled laborers, business owners, professionals, etc) and sees how they did over the years. Short version: they pretty much all moved up. Not every person advanced, of course, but there was a general trajectory of advancement in each group.
By and large this is a very well done book, but I had two issues to this book. First, I found myself wondering about sample bias in the source itself. The Irish who establish and long maintain a bank account may bias the findings to the more successful and ambitious ones in the first place. Also, I felt this might bias the findings to the longer-living migrants as well. Second, while the book is good it sure can get repetitive with the same point being made and made and made again for 300 straight pages.
It has the virtue of being an extremely readable book. If you want stories of Irish migrants and their families, this book has a trove of them. (Maybe too many, given my point at the end of the previous paragarph).
The book does a nice job presenting evidence of Irish moving up the ladder. Anbinder looks at the records and sees where people started - yeah, many were common laborers, but even early on many were not. Then he traces each economic group (common laborers, skilled laborers, business owners, professionals, etc) and sees how they did over the years. Short version: they pretty much all moved up. Not every person advanced, of course, but there was a general trajectory of advancement in each group.
By and large this is a very well done book, but I had two issues to this book. First, I found myself wondering about sample bias in the source itself. The Irish who establish and long maintain a bank account may bias the findings to the more successful and ambitious ones in the first place. Also, I felt this might bias the findings to the longer-living migrants as well. Second, while the book is good it sure can get repetitive with the same point being made and made and made again for 300 straight pages.
It has the virtue of being an extremely readable book. If you want stories of Irish migrants and their families, this book has a trove of them. (Maybe too many, given my point at the end of the previous paragarph).
March 2, 2024
Plentiful Country - The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York written by Tyler Anbinder and narrated by David McCusker is a thoroughly reseached, highly detailed story of individual and collective stories of the Irish immigrants who are the very foundation of New York
This beautifully narrated audiobook details how Irish immigrants fled the potato famine in their native Ireland, seeking a new life in America, braving an arduous journey across the Atlantic, and in turn. transforming New York into the bustling metropolitan hub of the world that it is today, and indeed, the United States of America as a whole by their contribution in the War of Independance. These are just two of the examples covered in this stuning chronicle
Anbinder writes with excepttional eloquence about the facts of the migration and at the same time, is able to delve into the human aspect of this huge influx of people and their profound effect in shaping the nation. It is truly incredible how Anbinder has brought together so much information and retained its core hmanity
David McCusker reads this audiobook with an authentic, measured flow and a gentle cadence which is a joy to listen to. As lyrical as it is strong, the book is brought to vivid clarity by this narration
Thank you to Netgalley, Hachette Audio, Little, Brown & Company, the author Tyler Anbinder and narrator David McCusker for this highly immersive and informatvie ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own
This beautifully narrated audiobook details how Irish immigrants fled the potato famine in their native Ireland, seeking a new life in America, braving an arduous journey across the Atlantic, and in turn. transforming New York into the bustling metropolitan hub of the world that it is today, and indeed, the United States of America as a whole by their contribution in the War of Independance. These are just two of the examples covered in this stuning chronicle
Anbinder writes with excepttional eloquence about the facts of the migration and at the same time, is able to delve into the human aspect of this huge influx of people and their profound effect in shaping the nation. It is truly incredible how Anbinder has brought together so much information and retained its core hmanity
David McCusker reads this audiobook with an authentic, measured flow and a gentle cadence which is a joy to listen to. As lyrical as it is strong, the book is brought to vivid clarity by this narration
Thank you to Netgalley, Hachette Audio, Little, Brown & Company, the author Tyler Anbinder and narrator David McCusker for this highly immersive and informatvie ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own
November 16, 2024
A well researched academic adventure transformed into a compelling, well written page turner. Hard to not be fascinated by the wild scope of experiences represented by the famine immigrants. Or the thoughtful analysis and interpretation of their socioeconomic histories.
Anbinder has the admirable gift of being an accomplished academic writer who can translate his findings into a highly accessible account for a broader audience. Using individual examples he produces an intriguing profile of famine immigrant experiences within and across six occupational strata, and often by Irish county of origin, using scores of memorable characters.
The foundation for this quest- an amazing collection of extensive records of the Irish Emigrant Bank’s famine- era depositors, thankfully preserved but almost overlooked. Those familiar with NYC will readily know specific locations mentioned (anchored by the original bank building by City Hall) but those less familiar are guided by maps.
Plentiful Country compliments other recent books on the Famine ( The Graves Are Walking: TheGreat Famine and the Saga of the Irish People, John Kelly) and ensuing flight from Ireland (On Every Tide: The Making and Remaking of the Irish World, Sean Connolly) by describing how a specific group of immigrants confronted the pre-Civil War US in their pursuit of their American Dream. A goal still pursued by many.
Anbinder has the admirable gift of being an accomplished academic writer who can translate his findings into a highly accessible account for a broader audience. Using individual examples he produces an intriguing profile of famine immigrant experiences within and across six occupational strata, and often by Irish county of origin, using scores of memorable characters.
The foundation for this quest- an amazing collection of extensive records of the Irish Emigrant Bank’s famine- era depositors, thankfully preserved but almost overlooked. Those familiar with NYC will readily know specific locations mentioned (anchored by the original bank building by City Hall) but those less familiar are guided by maps.
Plentiful Country compliments other recent books on the Famine ( The Graves Are Walking: TheGreat Famine and the Saga of the Irish People, John Kelly) and ensuing flight from Ireland (On Every Tide: The Making and Remaking of the Irish World, Sean Connolly) by describing how a specific group of immigrants confronted the pre-Civil War US in their pursuit of their American Dream. A goal still pursued by many.
June 30, 2025
Ok- I do think this book is good but its definitely for a specific audience and I do not think the blurb accurately captures that. This book is for genealogy heads, and specifically ones who are into Irish genealogy and "discovering the stories of their ancestors".
TLDR: It's a data driven NEW YORK centered book about Irish Immigrants success in the first 2 generations of famine migration. You can tell it was written by an academic.
I went into this expecting more of a grand story about the history of Irish immigration in New York and it was not that.
It inst that because it is very data driven. Throughout the book there are charts and stats of how likely each of these stories that he is telling were to happen. Additionally every single source is accounted for as he tells the story. By midway through I had grown very tired of the citations to Emigrant Savings Bank accounts and their values translation into today's money. This book seeks to tell these peoples story though data and while interesting was something I wish I had known before I read it.
Personally it was a slog and wish it had a wider scope, especially being from Massachusetts I did not love the way the author talked about New England? As if Irish Immigrants haven't made a significant impact on this area. Idk maybe I am jumping to conclusions but it was weird to me.
TLDR: It's a data driven NEW YORK centered book about Irish Immigrants success in the first 2 generations of famine migration. You can tell it was written by an academic.
I went into this expecting more of a grand story about the history of Irish immigration in New York and it was not that.
It inst that because it is very data driven. Throughout the book there are charts and stats of how likely each of these stories that he is telling were to happen. Additionally every single source is accounted for as he tells the story. By midway through I had grown very tired of the citations to Emigrant Savings Bank accounts and their values translation into today's money. This book seeks to tell these peoples story though data and while interesting was something I wish I had known before I read it.
Personally it was a slog and wish it had a wider scope, especially being from Massachusetts I did not love the way the author talked about New England? As if Irish Immigrants haven't made a significant impact on this area. Idk maybe I am jumping to conclusions but it was weird to me.
May 27, 2024
Plentiful is well written and a fast read. I have a lot of personal interest in the topic due to my ancestry as famine immigrant Irish. Yet, around half way through the book, I wished the author made more choices, picked a few families or storylines rather than provide an encyclopedic listing of depositors to Emigrant savings bank. He started to recycle and repeat the same points again and again. He also seemed to miss a profound story of so many famine immigrants becoming grocers and "saloonkeepers." People who made a living out of distributing food. My ancestor did so but was not profitable as he gave food out for free to anyone hungry during multiple economic upheavals in his new country. I know that is just my relatives but I make the point because of a larger issue with the book. The author tells so many factoids deposit by deposit about so many people that perhaps he misses the heart and soul of surviving a famine in a new world. He mentions how cultivating relationships and networks were critical survival strategies. But it does not shine through as Irish culture. Saloons or pubs were not just bars, they were music venues, cultural centers. If he had picked 5 to 10 families and told their story, it would be an amazing read. I learned much but I wished for something better.
October 19, 2025
Anbinder's "Plentiful Country" refreshes and revises the popular historical narrative of the massive Great Potato Famine-era migration of Irish to America. Anbinder uses new historical archival material (including newly available 19th century bank records and digital genealogical records) to reconstruct the lives and coming-to-america experiences of dozens of Famine-era Irish immigrants. The book offers a multi-layered, textured history of this highly consequential cohort of immigrants. In contrast to popular narratives which emphasize only hardship or only success, Anbinder calls our attention to the variety of Irish immigrant stories ranging from the tragic to the heroic, from the damning to the redeeming, and from the mundane to the extraordinary. "Plentiful Country" reminds us that the immigrant's journey does not stop at the border. Rather, it continues through the strivings of entire lives, and those of successive generations, to make real the dream of home and opportunity in their new world.
March 13, 2024
Wow! What an excellent read! I learned some about the Irish potato famine in the book, The Untold History of the Potato by John Reader, and it was fascinating to then read a book with extensive details about the immigrants fleeing the famine.
I found the audiobook extremely easy to listen to! The narrator, David McCusker, is excellent! Especially as he speaks with an Irish accent (because why are most audiobooks narrated in an English or American accent?). He speaks with enough emotion to keep the reader engaged but keeps a steady pace for the speedy listener.
The premise of revealing history based on banking is brilliant and really interesting to read about.
Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio for an audio-arc to voluntarily listen to and honestly review. This book is BEGGING to be used for research for a historical fiction novel 👀😍🙏🏻
I found the audiobook extremely easy to listen to! The narrator, David McCusker, is excellent! Especially as he speaks with an Irish accent (because why are most audiobooks narrated in an English or American accent?). He speaks with enough emotion to keep the reader engaged but keeps a steady pace for the speedy listener.
The premise of revealing history based on banking is brilliant and really interesting to read about.
Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio for an audio-arc to voluntarily listen to and honestly review. This book is BEGGING to be used for research for a historical fiction novel 👀😍🙏🏻
September 3, 2024
A good book for those who want to connect to Irish-American roots. In his book, Anbinder highlights the narratives of many individual Irish New Yorkers in describing the trials and tribulations of the famine-era diaspora. He covers the various career paths of the Irish in painstaking detail, which offers a unique way for the many who have Irish ancestry to feel closer to that experience through many who beat the odds to achieve a rags-to-riches destiny. At times, that painstaking detail may feel slow for those who are not invested in the individual narratives and are looking for bigger picture themes. Ultimately, this book illustrates one way the American dream developed from tired and huddled masses.
March 25, 2024
I found this narrative fascinating. The comprehensive research is remarkable and the relating of the personal stories of a so many immigrants in an engaging and interesting fashion makes, what might have been a tedious, dry, fact laden narrative, totally gripping and generates a continuous curiosity as to how the new arrivals adapted and settled in their new world.
The tragedies, failures, successes and ongoing efforts to do better are a testament to the tenacity and determination of so many to make a new life for themselves and their families
I listened to the audio book and would strongly recommend to all Irish immigrants and descendants.
The tragedies, failures, successes and ongoing efforts to do better are a testament to the tenacity and determination of so many to make a new life for themselves and their families
I listened to the audio book and would strongly recommend to all Irish immigrants and descendants.
June 20, 2024
The book is not a 4 star for me because of the writing; the seemingly unending stories of Irish families moving to the US in the wake of the potato famine doesn’t lend itself to a high rating for writing. However, that rating is based on the research. It is amazing how the author has been able to research so many families and their links. If you want the quick overview of what was determined about Irish families fleeing to the US following the failure of the potato crop, one can simply read the “Conclusion” to the book.
February 26, 2025
2.5 stars, rounded up. This book starts strong, but the endless and repetitive character background (did this as a job, saved this much at the Emigrant Savings Bank, and then died) was grating towards the end. While listening to the audiobook, at several points, I thought that it went back to a previous chapter accidentally.
A disappointment as this is such an interesting topic, but the book would have been way better if just focused on a few of these many, many people detailed in this book.
A disappointment as this is such an interesting topic, but the book would have been way better if just focused on a few of these many, many people detailed in this book.
December 31, 2024
This is an economic history of the Irish immigrants who came to New York following the famine in the latter 1840s. Despite its detailed impression of the group's rocketing economic climb, it fails to capture the less tangible, but more important impacts of the Famine on Irish Americans' psyches. Reading as a castrated listicle of names, family structures, and jobs, the narrative offers little in the way of exploring its subject's essential character.
May 21, 2024
Quite interesting from an historical perspective. Doesn't overdramatize the Hunger but makes hard-hitting points about what drove half of Ireland to the U.S.A. then quickly moves on. Anyone into Irish lineage, NY City history, and what the Irish have contributed to building that great city will probably find this book useful.
August 30, 2024
A documentary-style book with tons of research and hundreds of short examples of the financial and work lives of the Famine Irish. This book would be especially good for anyone interested in immigration, migration, New York City, the Irish, and the American Dream. The Irish were often seen as lazy and downtrodden, but this book proves otherwise, showcasing a people that changed America.
January 21, 2025
This is for a particular audience I'd say--people interested in history, in Irish famine migration, in following a specific group of Irish immigrants. I found it intriguing as it brought to light what happened to these people by looking at records of their savings accounts. If you're interested in genealogy, history, the Irish in New York, this book is fascinating.
February 17, 2025
Excellent look at an immigrant group I didn't know much about, and very much altered my understanding of the Irish experience vs the later experience of Jews & Italians. I really appreciated the effort used to leverage the Emigrant Savings Bank records to illuminate the experience beyond the surface level.
May 20, 2024
Meticulously researched and passionately told, the story delivers an intimate portrait of the Irish emigration experience told predominantly through one ingenious device - the savings account histories of the new Irish Americans ... There is much to learn here and many interesting people to meet
July 1, 2024
The writing flowed, the topic was engaging but this book lacked a narrative arc. Chapter by chapter I felt like I was reading lists and endless statistics. But the information was informative, particularly interesting if you're a descendent of Irish immigrants yourself.
August 17, 2024
Another one that could have been a magazine article. Kinda interesting to learn about the Emigrant Savings records, but after that, it's just basically a list of families found in those records and what the records say, the kind of thing that's interesting if they're in your family tree, but...
October 26, 2025
3 1/2 stars but Goodreads doesn’t allow half stars, three days.
The information the author was able to find is really cool and being able to trace one’s ancestors is such a miracle. But the book became quite repetitive after a while.
The information the author was able to find is really cool and being able to trace one’s ancestors is such a miracle. But the book became quite repetitive after a while.
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