"The Irish have been encountering people of colour both inside and outside Ireland for over a millennium. The Vikings traded North African slaves in Dublin in the 9th century while later Irish peasants travelled with Norman lords on the crusades against Islam. The Scotch-Irish of the north and later the famine Irish migrated in their tens of thousands to America where they quickly came to learn that owning slaves and engaging in racist practices was the passport to being considered white. And the British Empire could not have operated without the loyal service of countless Irish administrators and soldiers, all of whom were implicated directly or otherwise in the task of subjugating, ruling and often slaughtering people with black, brown or yellow skin."--BOOK JACKET.