Overview

The essays in this collection focus on the nature of popular protest and agrarian unrest and the development of nationalism in modern Ireland. Some are concerned with particular manifestations of protest - Houghers, Rightboys, Defenders, Ribbonmen, the Land War, Sinn Féin. Others treat more general themes - cultural identity as expressed in Gaelic Irish literature, the dynamics of the potato economy, electoral politics and landlord power, the impact of modernization on Ulster's development. Religion is discussed, and the relationship between agrarian violence and politicization, between protest and nationalism. Taken as a whole, the volume illustrates the range and depth, and the excellence, of recent writing on modern Irish history. It will be welcomed both for the importance and relevance of its theme and for the substantial contribution it makes to Irish studies generally.