Crossover Week: Natural Disasters (Potato Fam...

This special five-part series is brought to you by Medical Mysteries, a Parcast Original. For more episodes like it, subscribe to Medical Mysteries on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Today we’re discussing Reshma Begum, a seamstress in Bangladesh who was pulled out a ...  Show more

This special five-part series is brought to you by Medical Mysteries, a Parcast Original. For more episodes like it, subscribe to Medical Mysteries on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Today we’re discussing Reshma Begum, a seamstress in Bangladesh who was pulled out a ...  Show more

The second episode in our revisit of the Irish Famine covers the mid-1800s, when the poorest people in Ireland ate almost nothing but potatoes, saving other crops for selling. So a blight, plus politics, led to tragedy. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcas ...  Show more

In the mid-1800s, the poorest people in Ireland ate almost nothing but potatoes. Other crops were for selling. So when a blight cut a swath through the potato crop, the impact was severe, and politics played a significant role in the tragedy.

Between 1845 and 1852, Ireland suffered an appalling famine after the repeated failure of the potato crop, its national staple. But though caused by a natural blight, a combination of ancient prejudices, simmering tensions and political short-termism turned a national emergency i ...  Show more

How did the memory of the Great Famine shape Irish identity? Could it have been prevented? From 1845 to 1852, a disease decimated potato crops across Ireland. Farmers of small plots who relied entirely on this monoculture were launched into complete destitution. Desperate famili ...  Show more