Description
Book SynopsisThe study of crime and violence in all its multifarious forms remains one of the most productive areas of enquiry for Irish historians. Considered an inordinately violent and unruly society by many contemporaries, nineteenth-century Ireland was notorious for sectarian unrest, agrarian disorder, alcohol-fuelled casual fighting, the seditious activities of various illegal underground organisations, as well as a host of other ‘outrages’. The image of an Ireland in an almost perpetual state of tumult during the nineteenth century, however, is a false one, invariably pedalled by partisan observers with a particular political or religious agenda to satisfy. Modern historical scholarship has corrected many lingering assumptions about the extent and character of Irish violence, but much work remains to be done. This important collection of essays, based on original research delivered at one of the Society for the Study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland’s most successful annual conferences, draws together some of Ireland’s leading historians as well emerging talents to examine a broad range of topics under the banner of crime and violence. Irish secret societies, agrarian disorder, security and the law, sectarian violence, and a host of similar topics benefit from innovative methodological perspectives and advanced historical scholarship. List of contributors: Kyle Hughes, Donald M. MacRaild, Michael Huggins, Terence M. Dunne, Jess Lumsden Fisher, John McGrath, Richard J. Butler, Colin W. Reid, Richard A. Keogh, Ciara Breathnach, Laurence M. Geary, Ian d’Alton, Daragh Curran, Gemma Clark, Patrick Maume, Teresa O’Donnell and Virginia Crossman.
Trade Review'An important and valuable collection.'
Dr. Richard Mc Mahon, Assistant Professor of History, Trinity College Dublin
'A thought-provoking collection by scholars who you sense really care about the topics they study.'
Books IrelandReviews 'An insightful, thought-provoking and valuable addition to the existing historiography of crime and violence in nineteenth-century Ireland.’
Regina Donlon,
Irish Literary Supplement'Delivers a detailed texture of crime, crime control, and everyday life... their attention to local, everyday contexts promotes an understanding of crime, criminals, and justice rooted in historical empathy for their subjects. That approach makes for good history.'
William Meier,
Victorian Studies'While it is impossible in a short review to do full justice to the many essays in this volume... This is an important addition to the study of crime and violence in Ireland in the nineteenth century and is highly recommended to scholars and students who are interested in the subject.'
Brian Griffin,
Irish Studies ReviewTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsList of ContributorsIntroduction: Crime, Violence, and the Irish in the Nineteenth Century; Themes and Perspectives
Kyle Hughes and Donald M. MacRaildSection 1 ‘Secret Societies’ and Collective Violence1 Whiteboys and Ribbonmen: What’s in a Name?
Michael Huggins2 The Law of Captain Rock
Terence M. Dunne3 ‘Night Marauders’ and ‘Deluded Wretches’: Public Discourses on Ribbonism in Pre-Famine Ireland
Jess Lumsden Fisher4 Organised Labour in Limerick City, 1819–1821: Violence and the Struggle for Legitimacy
John McGrathSection 2 The Law and its Responses5 Cork’s Courthouses, the Landed Elite, and the Rockite Rebellion: Architectural Responses to Agrarian Violence, 1820–1827
Richard J. Butler6 Constitutional Rhetoric as Legal Defence: Irish Lawyers and the Languages of Political Dissent in 1848
Colin W. Reid7 ‘Why, it’s like a ’98 trial’: The Irish Judiciary and the Fenian Trials, 1865–1866
Richard A. Keogh8 Crime and Punishment: Whiteboyism and the Law in Late Nineteenth-Century Ireland
Ciara Breathnach and Laurence M. GearySection 3 Sectarianism and Violence9 From Bandon to … Bandon: Sectarian Violence in Cork during the Nineteenth Century
Ian d’Alton10 ‘Loyal to the Crown but not the Crown’s Government’: The Challenge to Policing Posed by the Orange Order in 1830s Ulster
Daragh CurranSection 4 Manifestations of Crime and Violence11 Arson in Modern Ireland: Fire and Protest before the Famine
Gemma Clark12 The Head Pacificator and Captain Rock: Sedition, Suicide, and Honest Tom Steele
Patrick Maume13 ‘Skin the Goat’s Curse’ on James Carey: Narrating the Story of the Phoenix Park Murders through Contemporary Broadside Ballads
Teresa O’Donnell14 Attitudes and Responses to Vagrancy in Ireland in the Long Nineteenth Century
Virginia CrossmanIndex
