Plentiful country: the great potato famine and the making of Irish New York

"Enough to sicken the heart" : Ireland, famine, flight

"The best country in the world" : Coming to New York

"All the rude and heavy work" : Day laborers, domestics, and other unskilled workers

"Too often seen to need description" : Peddlers, hawkers, and vendors

"I was never out of work for twenty-four hours" : Artisans

"Never was there a brighter brain" : Clerks, agents, and civil servants

"Getting on very well" : Business owners

"Few men better known" : Saloonkeepers

"Well-cultivated fields and a good bank account" : The New York Irish beyond New York

"A respectable life" : The children of the famine immigrants.