Includes bibliographical references (pages [237]-271) and index.

Setting the stage for a bioarchaeology of the great Irish famine -- "An entire nation of paupers": contextualizing poverty and famine in mid-nineteenth-century Ireland and Kilkenny -- A life endured in poverty: a social bioarchaeology of the "deserving poor" -- Institutionalization as the last resort: famine diseases, mortality, and medical interventions -- The bioarchaeology of the human experience of famine and disaster: shedding new light on the realities of the great Irish famine.

Geber uses the analysis of the remains from the mass burial ground within the former union workhouse in Kilkenny found in 2005 to address central questions regarding health conditions at the workhouse and to shed new light on the famine.