In recent years, the Irish famine has been remembered in books, documentaries, memorials and even school curricula. In his introduction to the brief, provocative "The Irish Famine: A Documentary," Colm Tibn quotes an ardent supporter of such lessons, New York Governor Pataki: "History teaches us that the Great Hunger was not the result of a massive Irish crop failure, but rather a deliberate campaign by the British to deny the Irish people the food they needed to survive". But Tibn, and co-author Diarmaid Ferriter, want Irish Americans to fundamentally reexamine this view of the Famine. New Jersey's Irish Famine schools curriculum, Tibn contends, "is full of emotional language, selective quotation and vicious anti-English rhetoric. It asserts, despite all evidence to the contrary, that Ireland remained a net exporter of food during the Famine. It is as shocking in its carelessness and its racism as the London Times editorials were about Ireland during and after the Famine". Indeed, Tibn understands that many in 19th-century Britain thought the Catholic Irish were sub-human, and that the Famine was God's punishment. But according to the Famine-era documents which historian Ferriter has collected, the British government was in fact pursuing Famine solutions seriously, if not successfully. Tibn, then, offers this possibility. "If you take into account the fact that the British government and Irish landlords wanted land clearance on a vast scale, then the obvious question arises: could it be that, on the one hand, there were these attitudes and ambitions and, on the other, there was a famine, but that the two are not necessarily connected, or not connected enough to constitute cause and effect?" Even if you disagree with this interpretation, "The Irish Famine: A Documentary" is an interesting read, exploring how the U.S. and Ireland have treated the Famine so differently. The documents selected by Ferriter are eye-opening, though Ferriter does admit: "These documents...do nothing to settle the (Famine) argument; instead, they establish its terms and complexity". The same can be said for this book. (224 pages / $23.95 / Dunne Books)