In the early nineteenth century, life in rural Ireland became even more difficult than it already was. Most Irish farmers did not own their own land but rented small crop fields from the Irish gentry. A depression lowered the prices farmers received for their crops and made it nearly impossible for many to pay their rents, taxes, and church tithes, resulting in the evictions of thousands from their little plots of land. When beef prices rose, making it more profitable to raise cattle than crops, many of the landed gentry evicted their poor tenant farmers in order to convert crop fields into pastures. Potatoes became the salvation of millions of Irish people; they were easily grown, nutritious, and abundant enough to stave off starvation for three-quarters of Ireland’s population.

However, beginning in 1845, a potato blight devastated Ireland&rsquo...