This outstanding survey of Irish history between 1798 and the Famine looks at the origins, course and consequences of the changes which swept through Irish life in the period. It traces the rise of modern Irish nationalism and the parallel decline and collapse of the old eighteenth-century social structure.

‘A well-written and masterly piece of compact description.’ Irish Independent

‘It explains carefully and clearly the main themes and problems of a complicated period in which so many of the attitudes and permanent social features of modern Ireland were crystallised.’ Studies

Ireland Before The Famine ... Read more1798–1848 originally appeared as volume nine of the Gill History of Ireland. It remains the only survey volume dealing specifically with the first half of the nineteenth century.