This pocket-sized text from the "New Horizons" series examines the Irish famine of 1845-1850, during which over one million of the Irish population died in a crop failure unprecedented in the history of modern Europe. Dependency on the potato as the main source of food brought widespread starvation and disease throughout Ireland and was followed by a mass emigration to Britain, North America, Canada and Australia. This book is published to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the famine.