Originally published in 1951, this study of the Irish nationalist movement examines social forces behind the ceaseless agitation in Ireland from the 18th to the 20th Century and gives an account of the influence of the Irish question on the political development of Great Britain. It analyses the forces which moulded Irish and English history during the period 1801-1921. In particular it shows in what way Irish problems affected the important developments of English history during the last century and a half: religious toleration, the Great Reform Bill, the Repeal of the Corn Laws, the growth of the modern party system, and the Parliament Act of 1911 which crippled the House of Lords and firmly established British democracy.
Part 1: England’s First Colony 1. America and Ireland: Settlement and Conquest 2. The Anglo-Irish Land System 3. Ulster 4. Dublin Castle 5. Irish Rents and British Commerce 6. ‘Grattan’s’ Parliament and the United Irishmen 7. Towards the Union Part 2: The ‘United’ Kingdom, 1801-1846 8. Irish Nationalism and British Democracy 9. The Economic Consequences of the Union 10. Ireland’s Social Disintegration 11. Catholic Emancipation 12. Repeal and Young Ireland 13. Ireland in the Imperial Parliament 14. The Irish in Great Britain Part 3: Revolt and Reform 15. Ireland in the Heyday of British Capitalism 16. The Fenians 17. Home Rule versus Agrarian Revolution 18. The Economic Roots of the Home Rule Crisis 19. Ireland and the British Party System Part 4: Compromise or Revolution? 20. The Diminishing Returns of Imperialism 21. The Era of Clericalism 22. The Clash Between Town and Country 23. The Red Hand of Ulster 24. Ireland and the British Constitution 25. The Gordian Knot Part 5: Contrasts and Parallels 26. The Rhythm of Modern Irish History 27. Ireland, England and the British Empire.
Biography
E. Strauss
Reviews of the original edition of Irish Nationalism and British Democracy:
‘…No work, comparable in this scope, intellectual quality, and scholarly competence has hitherto appeared…The book may be recommended to the critical attention of all students of modern Irish history…There is not a flabby sentence in it.’ T. W. Moody, Irish Historical Studies, Vol 8. No. 30.
‘…a sympathetic study of Irish insurrections.’ Raymond G. Cowherd, The American Historical Review, Vol 57, Issue 4.
