Human encumbrances : political violence and the Great Irish Famine / David P. Nally.

Notre Dame, Ind. : University of Notre Dame Press, [2011], ©2011.

xviii, 348 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Colonial biopolitics and the functions of famine -- Fatal circumstances : colonialism and the origins of vulnerability to famine -- Defining civility : on the poverty of others -- Engineering civility : colonial welfare and Irish pauper management -- Imposing civility : the administration of hunger -- The "ungoverned millions" : Thomas Carlyle and the Irish question -- The angel of progress : visionary geographies and disaster triage.