Landlords and tenants in mid-Victorian Ireland W.E. Vaughan (Clarendon Press, £40) Reviewed by Clare Murphy This scholarly work is the result of long, methodical research based on an impressive range of primary sources, most notably estate papers. It is delivered free from irritating jargon with the econometric analysis lightened by a varied array of anecdotal … Read more
Aristocrats Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah Lennox 1740-1832 Stella Tillyard (Chatto and Windus, £20) Reviewed by Eleanor Burgess Aristocrats is a tour de force. Stella Tillyard has used the stories of the four sisters of its subtitle, largely taken from their copious correspondence, to immerse the reader in the eighteenth century on both sides of … Read more
Peter Gray How far can the British government be held responsible for the Famine mortality of over one million in five years? What were the ideological motivations and constraints on ministers, and the effects of these on the formation of policy, particularly in the worst years of the Famine from mid-1846 to mid-1849? … Read more
E.M. Kirwan The most significant collection of images relating to Irish history is held by the National Library of Ireland, which houses millions of pictures, mostly prints. The Prints and Drawings Section alone houses at least 90,000 prints, drawings and water-colours and for the past five years an active programme to develop and properly … Read more
Elected to the Senate two years ago for the National University, Professor Joe Lee of University College Cork is probably Ireland’s best known modern historian. Gráinne Henry caught up with him recently. GH: Tell us about your background. JL: I was born in Tralee, County Kerry, in 1942. I spent my first nine years in … Read more