Assessing the relative importance of British influence and of indigenous impulses in shaping an independent Ireland, this book identifies the relationship between personality and process in determining Irish history.

The Modernisation of Irish Society surveys the period from the end of the Famine to the triumph of Sinn Fein in the 1918 election and argues that during that time Ireland became one of the most modern and advanced political cultures in the world. Professor Lee contends that the Famine death-rate, however terrible, was not unprecedented. What was different was the post-Famine response to the catastrophy. The sharply increased rate of emigration left behind a population of tenent farmers engaged in market orientated agriculture and determined to protect and improve their position. It was this group that used the British political system so skillfully, a process elaborated and refined in the Land League and Home Rule movements under Parnell. The Parnell era left a lasting legacy of modern political engagement and organisation which was carried on in essentials by the later Home Rule party and by Sinn Fein, and – beyond the terminal date of the book – would make its mark on the politics of independent Ireland. The Modernisation of Irish Society was first published as volume 10 of the original Gill History of Ireland.

Acclaimed political, social, cultural and economic history of Ireland from prehistory to the present by one of Ireland's leading historians.

Explores the history of the Irish in America, offering an overview of Irish history, immigration to the United States, and the transition of the Irish from the working class to all levels of society.

This volume brings together some of the most distinguished historians from Ireland to offer their own interpretations of key issues and events in Irish history.This volume brings together distinguished historians of Ireland, each of whom tackles a key question, issue or event in Irish history since the eighteenth century and:* examines its historiography* assesses the context of new interpretations* considers the strengths and weaknesses of revisionist ideas* offers their own interpretation.Topics covered are not only of historical interest but, in the context of recent revisionist debates, of contemporary political significance.These original contributions take account of new evidence and perspectives, as well as up-to-date historical methodology. Their combination of synthesis and analysis represent a valuable guide to the present state of the writing of modern Irish history.

The years of Ireland’s union with Great Britain are most often regarded as a period of great turbulence and conflict. And so they were. But there are other stories too, and these need to be integrated in any account of the period. Ireland’s progressive primary education system is examined here alongside the Famine; the growth of a happily middle-class Victorian suburbia is taken into account as well as the appalling Dublin slum statistics. In each case, neither story stands without the other. This study synthesises some of the main scholarly developments in Irish and British historiography and seeks to provide an updated and fuller understanding of the debates surrounding nineteenth- and early twentieth-century history.

An accessible and innovative look at Irish history by some of today's most exciting historians of Ireland This book brings together some of today's most exciting scholars of Irish history to chart the pivotal events in the history of modern Ireland while providing fresh perspectives on topics ranging from colonialism and nationalism to political violence, famine, emigration, and feminism. The Princeton History of Modern Ireland takes readers from the Tudor conquest in the sixteenth century to the contemporary boom and bust of the Celtic Tiger, exploring key political developments as well as major social and cultural movements. Contributors describe how the experiences of empire and diaspora have determined Ireland’s position in the wider world and analyze them alongside domestic changes ranging from the Irish language to the economy. They trace the literary and intellectual history of Ireland from Jonathan Swift to Seamus Heaney and look at important shifts in ideology and belief, delving into subjects such as religion, gender, and Fenianism. Presenting the latest cutting-edge scholarship by a new generation of historians of Ireland, The Princeton History of Modern Ireland features narrative chapters on Irish history followed by thematic chapters on key topics. The book highlights the global reach of the Irish experience as well as commonalities shared across Europe, and brings vividly to life an Irish past shaped by conquest, plantation, assimilation, revolution, and partition.

This book explores the efforts made by British governments, Irish politicians, and Irish cultural organisations to master and shape Ireland in an age of increasingly rapid change, and explain the process and outcome of these endeavours.

Traces the social and political history of Ireland since the partition in the 1920s.

Major John MacBride, who was Born in Westport, County Mayo in 1868, was a household name in Ireland when many of the leaders of the Easter Rising were still relatively unknown figures. As part of the 'Irish Brigade', a band of nationalists fighting against the British in the Second Boer War, MacBride's name featured in stories in the Freeman's Journal and Arthur Griffith's United Irishman. The Major went on to travel across the United States, lecturing audiences on the blow struck against the British Empire in South Africa. His marriage to Maud Gonne, described as 'Ireland's Joan of Arc', led to further notoriety. Their subsequent bitter separation involved some of the most senior figures in Irish nationalism. MacBride was dismissed by William Butler Yeats as a 'drunken, vainglorious lout; Donal Fallon attempts to unravel the complexities of the man and his life and what led him to fight in Jacob's factory in 1916. John MacBride was executed in Kilmainham Gaol on 5 May 1916, two days before his forty-eighth birthday.