Irish Fever

Book Cover Design

Client: UT Press
Art Direction and Design: Elisa Razak

During the Great Potato Famine, millions of Irish people fled their native country. Many settled in New York City and found themselves with a new home and a new set of challenges. Food insecurity, labor exploitation, miserable living conditions and illness. Irish Fever explores the afflictions that disproportionately affected these Irish immigrants and how existing medical ideas and technologies fed into American prejudices against immigration. The book provides new perspectives of the Irish diaspora and invites contemplation about how illness, injury and healing have affected the lives and reception of newcomers to the US.