The Irish Empire (1999– ) User Reviews

Mistitled at best

[emdoub · 10 March 2006]

First off, it's not a look at any Irish Empire, but an examination of the Irish Diaspora. Nor is there much meat there, as the focus seems to be much more on how those poor emigrants must have felt, with much less information on what they did.

Presented in a scatter-shot time-line, jumping from the USA to the Irish left behind in Ireland, to India where the Irish were the mainstay of that awful Imperialism, to Australia where there were some success stories, to the poor, powerless Irish women whose story was never told (which they bewail repeatedly, without ever trying to tell that untold story).

There were some good tidbits in there, but all in all, it's more bewailing the 'Irish Tragedy' and less a history to learn anything from.

Worth watching.

[danwitter · 9/10 · 29 April 2016]

I found this series to be excellent. I thought it was going to be a history of Ireland, and it is of sorts, but it's about Irish immigration to the U.S., Canada, England, South Africa, Australia and other parts of the world. It dispels myths about immigration and looks at how immigration has affected the political, social and religious makeup of Ireland's immigrant descendants and their nations.

I would like to have seen more discussion about the Irish in the U.S., but that's my personal bias. Still, it was enlightening to see how immigration affected other countries, as well.

Some of the information is dated, however. It was made in 2000, and it was before the recession in 2007 damaged the Irish economy, so some of this is outdated. Most of it is not. It's really worth a view if you're interested in Irish history and Irish immigration history.