Joan Vincent provides a micro-historical study and narrative ethnography of the Irish famine in County Fermanagh. Viewing the famine as a man-made process, and exploring the voices of the residents of Fermanagh as they attempt to understand and address the suffering around them, Vincent emphasizes the creation of cultural knowledge about the "faminization" process and explores the interactions of local and national politics which structured the County experience of the famine and later political unrest. Throughout the book, Vincent emphasizes the gendered effects of the famine and provides us with a sensitive analysis of the cultural reaction to disruption and trauma.