The Cambridge Social History of Modern Ireland

This is the first textbook on the history of modern Ireland to adopt a social history perspective.

Eugenio F. Biagini (Edited by), Mary E. Daly (Edited by)

9781107479401, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 April 2017

648 pages
24.6 x 17.5 x 3 cm, 1.28 kg

'Editors Biagini and Daly have achieved their goal of providing a synthesis of the best recent scholarship in Irish social history, making this excellent book an indispensable resource for teachers, students, and researchers. Essential.' A. H. Plunkett, Choice

Covering three centuries of unprecedented demographic and economic changes, this textbook is an authoritative and comprehensive view of the shaping of Irish society, at home and abroad, from the famine of 1740 to the present day. The first major work on the history of modern Ireland to adopt a social history perspective, it focuses on the experiences and agency of Irish men, women and children, Catholics and Protestants, and in the North, South and the diaspora. An international team of leading scholars survey key changes in population, the economy, occupations, property ownership, class and migration, and also consider the interaction of the individual and the state through welfare, education, crime and policing. Drawing on a wide range of disciplinary approaches and consistently setting Irish developments in a wider European and global context, this is an invaluable resource for courses on modern Irish history and Irish studies.

Editors' introduction
Part I. Geography, Occupations and Social Classes: 1. Irish demography since 1740 J. Fitzgerald
2. Occupation, poverty and social class in pre-famine Ireland 1740–1850 P. Solar
3. Famine and famine relief 1740–2000 Mary E. Daly
4. Languages and identities G. Ó. Tuathaigh
5. Catholic Ireland 1740–2016 C. Barr and D. Ó. Corráin
6. Protestant Ireland 1740–2016 A. Holmes and Eugenio F. Biagini
7. Town and city D. Dickson
8. The farmers since 1850 P. Rouse
9. The Irish working class and the role of the state, 1850–2016 H. Patterson
10. The Big House T. Dooley
11. Elite formation, the professions, industry and the middle-class J. Ruane and J. Todd
Part II. People, Culture and Communities: 12. Consumption, living standards and the state A. Bielenberg and J. O'Hagan
13. Housing in Ireland 1740–2016 E. Rowley
14. Feast, famine and food poverty: food in Ireland, 1740 to the present J. Adelman
15. Literacy and education C. O'Neill
16. Health and welfare C. Cox
17. Old age, death and mourning P. Lysaght
18. Celebrations and the rituals of life D. Ó Giolláin
19. Women and gender roles D. Urquhart and L. Earner Byrne
20. Childhood S. A. Buckley and S. Riordan
21. Family, sex and the law M. Luddy
22. Crime and policing M. Finnane and I. O'Donnell
23. Sport, associational culture and national awareness in Ireland W. Murphy
Part III. Emigration, Immigration and the Wider Irish World: 24. Irish emigration in a comparative perspective K. Kenny
25. The diaspora in comparative and inter-generational perspective B. Walter
26. Minorities Eugenio F. Biagini
27. Political violence and the diasporas since 1740 C. Nic Dháibhéid
28. The Irish in Australia and New Zealand A. McCarthy
29. Mobility, money and nostalgia: the Irish in America T. Meagher
30. The Irish in Britain R. Swift and S. Campbell
31. Missionary empires and the worlds they made S. Roddy
32. Cultural transmission, the Irish associational culture and the 'marching' tradition J. MacPherson
33. Immigration, emigration and the cultural impact of the 'new' Irish since 1991 I. Glynn
Epilogue: remembering and forgetting in Irish history G. Beiner and E. O'Halpin.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], British & Irish history [HBJD1]