"The Great Finnish Famine in the 1860s is little known outside of Finland. It merits more attention because, Soviet famines apart, it was Europe's last peacetime famine and because it contains important lessons not only for famine historians but for students of disaster relief generally. Andrew Newby brilliantly analyses its historical roots in economic backwardness and impoverishment, its similarities to and differences from other famines, and the controversies and scandals surrounding poor relief. A key feature is Newby's account of how the famine was remembered and reinterpreted by later generations, be it in political discourse, in oral historical accounts, or in local commemoration. This is a gem of a book that, beyond cliché, deserves to be widely read." -- Cormac Ó Gráda , Professor Emeritus of Economics, University College Dublin "This study makes a vital contribution to famine history research. It is a thoroughly researched and convincingly argued account of one of the most devastating famines in a rapidly industrializing Europe, a catastrophe which is often said to have been a forgotten crisis. Newby's book uses new methodological approaches to study this famine, and analyses it from both national and international perspectives.

" -- Antti Häkkinen , Docent & Professor (retired), Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland.