Nick Maxwell

The Miasma:epidemic and panic in nineteenth-century Ireland Joseph Robins (Dublin: Institute of Public Administration, £7.95)

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term ‘miasma’ as ‘infectious or noxious exhalations from putrescent organic matter; poisonous particles or germs floating in and polluting the atmosphere’. Before the later nineteenth-century scientific discoveries of Pasteur, Lister and Koch established the germ origin of infection, many medical practitioners believed that the environment was responsible for the … Read more

R. E. G. Armattoe: the ‘Irishman’ from West Africa

Dr R. E. G. Armattoe was a man of many talents—a medical doctor, anthropologist, writer of prose and poetry, and, towards the end of his life, a budding politician. Although born and raised in Africa and receiving most of his tertiary education in Germany and France, Armattoe spent over a decade working in Northern Ireland. … Read more

‘An Irish Empire’?: Aspects of Ireland and the British Empire Keith Jeffery (eds.) (Manchester University Press, £40)

The British empire balks large in Irish history and the Irish experience but is one of such ambivalence that it rarely gets examined in a thoughtful and systematic fashion. The ‘Studies in Imperialism’ series has provided Keith Jeffrey with an opportunity to start filling in this gaping hole. His introduction, nuanced around whether Ireland’s role … Read more

‘The Mahdi for an Irish constituency or at least a seat in Dublin town council’: Davitt and Africa

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century British governments displayed renewed interest in imperial expansion, in what was later dubbed ‘new imperialism’. Between 1870 and 1900 around 66 million people and 4.5 million square miles were added to Britain’s overseas possessions in a process presented to schoolchildren as painting the map of the world … Read more

The Tree of Liberty: Radicalism, Catholicism and the construction of Irish identity 1760-1830 Kevin Whelan (Cork University Press in association with Field Day, £14.95

The 1790s have emerged, over the past fifteen years or so, as the focus of some of the most vigorous and challenging writing currently forthcoming from Irish historians. In that explosion of debate and reinterpretation, Kevin Whelan is recognised as a central figure. The appearance of The Tree of Liberty will thus attract wide and … Read more