Power and Popular Culture in Modern Ireland: Essays in Honour of James S. Donnelly, Jr. (review)

James S. Donnelly, Jr., has been a major figure in the study of modern Irish history for the past forty years, and a festschrift in his honor is a fitting tribute. Donnelly’s work on the land question in nineteenth-century Cork, his analyses of secret societies and agrarian unrest, his examination of the Great Famine, and his studies on the tensions between popular Catholicism and church doctrine, have all been valuable contributions to a sophisticated understanding of the dynamics of Irish history. Monographs, articles, essays, contributions to A New History of Ireland, and reference works, have been the fruit of Donnelly’s labors. As one of the editors of this volume observes, almost any scholarly book on nineteenth-century Ireland will have a reference to some of Donnelly’s work. Donnelly has also had a powerful influence promoting Irish Studies, serving as president of the American Conference for Irish Studies (ACIS) and on numerous editorial boards, and at the University of Wisconsin where he supervised twenty-two Ph.D. dissertations and twenty-nine MA theses, as well as chairing the history department for a time. Many of his students have gone on to take leadership roles in ACIS, as well. It has been a distinguished record, indeed.

The essays in the festschrift, written by friends, colleagues, and former students, reflect Donnelly’s historical interests. Desmond McCabe and Cormac Ó Gráda examine the effectiveness of the Enniskillen Workhouse during the Great Famine, showing how the guardians were incapable of meeting the needs of the catastrophe. Similarly, Laurence Geary’s study of the medical resources in County Cork during the Famine reveals the inability of medical staff as an organization to deal with the crisis. Peter Gray, working largely from the papers of Sir William Wilde, studied Wilde’s analysis of the statistics following the Famine and showed how these dreadful figures were optimistically interpreted in the light of the conventional political and economic wisdom of the day. Liam Kennedy, Kerby Miller, and Brian Gurrin chart the rise and decline of the Protestant community in County Tipperary from the 1660s to the early twentieth century against the background of sectarian conflict. Some religious accommodation is noted by Sean Farrell in the surprisingly workable mixing of Catholics and Protestants in the Lurgan Free School for poor children in the late-eighteenth century. David Miller downplays the influence of two contemporary mid-nineteenth century religious leaders, Reverend Henry Cooke and Bishop John MacHale, suggesting that their moments were brief and not as successful as commentators have argued.

Nicholas Wolf examines the tension between popular religious folk practices among the Irish Catholic community and the desire by Archbishop Paul Cullen for the church to retain control over religious doctrine and practice. Also looking at control of the people, Martin Dowling explores the tension between traditional Irish musicians and their popular audiences and the determination of disapproving priests and policemen to limit the opportunity for young people to meet in uncontrolled circumstances for dances at cross roads. Timothy McMahon makes a strong case for the persistent issue of land reforms, which progressed at a glacial pace under the land acts and during the Great War, an issue that he finds to be at the heart of the nationalist movement right into the 1920s. Looking at Irish migration to Britain in the twentieth century, Matthew O’Brien emphasizes that by the twenties and thirties economic opportunity was directing a shift of population away from Scotland and the north of England, where anti-Irish and anti-Catholicism had become strong, to the midlands and London where new employment existed.

The book concludes with an assessment of James Donnelly’s career by Michael de Nie, his former student. De Nie illuminates the ways in which Donnelly’s meticulous research has given his...