{"product_id":"graves-are-walking","title":"Graves Are Walking","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Irish famine that began in 1845 was one of the nineteenth century''s  greatest disasters. By its end, the island''s population of eight million  had shrunk by a third through starvation, disease and emigration. This  is a brilliant, compassionate retelling of that awful story for a new  generation - the first account for the general reader for many years and  a triumphant example of narrative non-fiction at its best.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe  immediate cause of the famine was a bacterial infection of the potato crop on which  too many the Irish poor depended. What turned a natural disaster into a  human disaster was the determination of senior British officials to use  relief policy as an instrument of nation-building in their oldest and  most recalcitrant colony. Well-meaning civil servants were eager to  modernise Irish agriculture and to improve the Irish moral character,  which was utterly lacking in the virtues of the new age of triumphant  capitalism. The result was a relief programme more concerned with  fostering change than of saving lives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is history that resonates powerfully with our own times.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57317624643966,"sku":"NW9780571284429","price":11.34,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780571284429.jpg?v=1778648479","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/graves-are-walking","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}