This volume of essays fills a number of gaps in the existing literature on emigration and provides a wide-ranging treatment of Irish emigration in contemporary Irish society and the expanding Irish diaspora. By addressing the issues from a world perspective, the contributors suggest that emigration is not simply a cultural tradition or behavioural trait of the Irish but a social-class and gendered response to structures operating in Irish society and the global economy generally. The geographical focus ranges across Britain, the United States and Europe. It will appeal to those interested in modern Irish emigration, women's studies, national identity, popular culture, literary criticism, the sociology of contemporary Irish society and those working in the rapidly growing field of diaspora studies.