Irish hunger

I have no Irish ancestors that I know of, but I find the Irish people mostly charming and the Emerald Isle beautiful.  The more I learn of Irish history,the more tragic it seems. How could the English have been so brutal so often over the centuries?

Since American politicians believe in Blarney and boast any Irish connections they have around March 17, it's good that a writer named Egan has taken on a politician named Ryan over the consequences of hunger on the human soul. Timothy Egan skewers Congressman Paul Ryan for using the same kind of rhetoric against helping poor and hungry people that English officials did during the Great Famine of the 1840s. The comparisons are apt.