The Killing of Major Denis Mahon: A Mystery of Old Ireland

Duffy writes a fascinating account of the Irish potato famine during 1846-49 by examining a local community in Ireland that during the famine, now defined as genocide, suffers severely, as all of Ireland does. The severity of the famine is made even worse by actions of large land owners and the English government to remove small plot farmers, to reduce dependence on potatoes and increase alternative agricultural production, that rent by eviction and mass forced immigration during the heights of the potato famine that resulted in over a million deaths and 1.5 million forced or coerced immigrations, many of whom died in transit on over populated ships. Massive relief efforts are slow and not efficient as England initiates limited relief requiring landlords to fulfill part of the financial obligations but what is fascinating was that the famine was widely known in the western world about the level of death as many countries (including the U.S.) offer private or governmental assistance although limited. Soup dispensaries are set up effectively in many cases but are under funded and struggle to stay open and poor houses virtually act like a prison system and are severe on the populace. In Stokestown, Major Mahon, a sometimes absent landlord carries out evictions with less severity than many landlords, pays some subsidies and limited fees for immigration, but still turns many poor out leaving them little in shelter but the ability to remove their thatched roofs to set up as temporary cover. A conflict over relief funding with the local parish priest allegedly fuels the priest to target open criticism on Major Mahan resulting in the priest being accused of inflaming the suffering to commit a severe act of violence. Duffy tells the history virtually before Cromwell to the mass deaths of the Irish famine leading up Mahan's killing and the aftermath. Duffy expertly tells the story of the killing of Major Mahon that shocked England all the way to Parliament, along with the slow revelation of controversial witnesses, resulting in conviction by circumstantial evidence. The strength of this unique telling is the concentration on this local community that reflects what as happening in all of Ireland with the exception of the notable killing of a local elite well connected to England. Duffy covers the trials extraordinary well and this is a great telling of a horrific time in our world history told on virtually a local level of the Irish community.

I have a soft spot for non-fiction books that are written without the characteristic academic flavor. This book meets on all levels. The author does not make judgments about the decisions made during the famine, but he does present the information and its history with all the requisite understanding of tragedy in hindsight. I love books like this, and I'm grateful for the work that went into it.

A fascinating "page-turner", which graphically describes the failure of the traditionalAnglo-Irish land distribution system, the international spread of the potato blight fungus, the insensitivity of the British government to the plight of starving Irish peasants almost totally reliant on the potato, and the fatal consequences (to himself and many tenant families) of a well-meaning but weak and inept absentee landlord, who tries to manage his declining estate with the help of a pitiless overseer.

Loved this book. What a guy!!! Being of Irish ancestory I found this book to provide a good look into the deplorable conditions in Ireland in the mid 1800's and how the English displayed terrible insensitivity to the suffering of thousands of Irish. It was difficult to read about how England ignored the starving of men , women, and children and knowingly contributed to their plight! Was the killing of Major Mahon justified? You be the judge!

Extremely well written discussion of a serious incident, the killing, with the background of an international catastrophe, the famine. It gives insight into the dramatic misguidance on a national scale that led to a misguided crime on a personal scale. A must read for any student of the Great Famine and its complexities.

Astonishing in detail. Heartbreaking. The behavior of the British Government is inexcusable. The viciousness and heartless treatment of the Irish people during the Famine is a shameful chapter in British history. As John Mitchell said it best: "God indeed created the potato blight, but the English created the Famine". We should never forget it nor underplay it.I am glad I read it. Thank you Peter Duffy.

A very historical account of Ireland during the time of the potato famine. Rather scholarly and difficult to get into, but once I did get into the story, found it hard to put down.

I got this for a class, but I thought it was quite a good book. Even if you don't have my class, and I hope you don't because it was boring, this is a good read -- especially if you're actually interested in period writings. Warning: Some parts of this can be disturbing.

I love Irish history but it is rare that I read anything new, Peter Hughes’ The Killing of Major Denis Mahon: A Mystery of Old Ireland, certainly provides something new.Hughes is an excellent historical writer (he also wrote The Bielski Brothers, a book entirely unrelated to Ireland but which I discovered many years ago). He is a narrator who brings his protagonists to life. This is especially so in the case of the eponymous Major Mahon, it would be easy to paint an Anglo-Irish landlord, evicting poverty-stricken tenants amid horrendous famine and disease, in simplistic terms. Hughes in no way whitewashes what Mahon did, quite the contrary, but he provides us with a human picture of the man and his own private qualms about the morality of his actions. The other major actors in the story, including the local Catholic clergy, are depicted in equally human terms.But what comes across as new to me, and convincingly argued in my opinion, is the role of the London government. Hughes addresses from the get-go the historical controversy regarding the British government and the Irish Famine, the split between the traditionalists; the British committed genocide against the Irish Catholic nation and the revisionists; the British did the best they could in circumstances beyond their control, and comes down on neither side.Hughes explains that indeed the Whig government (committed to free trade and rationalist economics when government intervention and simple humanitarian mercy were what was needed) did want to rid Ireland of its landless Catholic peasantry. However, it also wanted to rid Ireland of its indolent, backward, reactionary protestant landlords too.What they wanted to create was the Ireland that was eventually created, an Ireland run by the Irish Catholic middle class, comprising well to do farmers and businessmen who would employ Irish labour in a cash-based society. It is undeniable that such an Ireland would be a more peaceful, settled, prosperous society than that which it replaced, but the exiled Irish peasantry, who were the victims of this social engineering amid one of the most horrific humanitarian disasters to befall western Europe, could not forget, nor understandably ever forgive, the men who implemented it. Men like Denis Mahon paid the ultimate price for it.

A great story well told.

Really interesting, enlightened me to Irish history, so glad I read it.Took a few weeks to arrive but it was worth the wait.

excellent book on the life of Denis Mahon