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IRELAND: A SOCIAL HISTORY: From The Celts To The Foundations Of Unionism And Republicanism
In a year which celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Irish War of Independence this book is entirely relevant.
This comprehensive, meticulously-researched book offers readers (both familiar and unfamiliar with Irish history) an opportunity to review and re-examine their knowledge - from the Celts of the first century through to the foundation of Unionism and Republicanism in the latter part of the 18th and early 19th centuries. It seeks to explore the narrative that readers are generally exposed to in the revisionist version of Irish history.
As its title suggests, Ireland a Social History presents from a social perspective and invites the reader to reconsider the mostly accepted narratives which often represent the dominant class understanding of Irish History or as Gramsci observed; social constructs that benefit only the ruling classes - their view becoming the accepted view.
Jerry Shanahan spent the past seven years as a Worker Member of the Irish Labour Court which resolves industrial relations disputes and adjudicates on employment law. Prior to that he was National Officer with the trade union Unite, on the Executive Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and a former President of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions. He has had a lifetime interest in politics including the Connolly Youth Movement, Irish Communist Party, the Irish Labour Party, and was Chair of Labour Party trade unions. He also served on the Board of the National Economic and Social Council and the European Foundation on Living and Working Conditions. He holds a professional diploma in employment law from UCD and an MA from Keele University.
This comprehensive, meticulously-researched book offers readers (both familiar and unfamiliar with Irish history) an opportunity to review and re-examine their knowledge - from the Celts of the first century through to the foundation of Unionism and Republicanism in the latter part of the 18th and early 19th centuries. It seeks to explore the narrative that readers are generally exposed to in the revisionist version of Irish history.
As its title suggests, Ireland a Social History presents from a social perspective and invites the reader to reconsider the mostly accepted narratives which often represent the dominant class understanding of Irish History or as Gramsci observed; social constructs that benefit only the ruling classes - their view becoming the accepted view.
Jerry Shanahan spent the past seven years as a Worker Member of the Irish Labour Court which resolves industrial relations disputes and adjudicates on employment law. Prior to that he was National Officer with the trade union Unite, on the Executive Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and a former President of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions. He has had a lifetime interest in politics including the Connolly Youth Movement, Irish Communist Party, the Irish Labour Party, and was Chair of Labour Party trade unions. He also served on the Board of the National Economic and Social Council and the European Foundation on Living and Working Conditions. He holds a professional diploma in employment law from UCD and an MA from Keele University.
302 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 9, 2021
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November 30, 2024
Shanahan's "Ireland:A Social History; from the Celts to the Foundations of Unionism and Republicanism" is a book that, from the outset, attempts to set the scene of why Ireland became a revolutionary arena in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Immediately the book ignores Ireland by putting into context the Roman and Greek systems of governance and the anthropologist idea of gens and septs in clans. While this does relate to Ireland I don't understand why he doesn't do this immediately in an Irish context.
Furthermore, Shanahan engages in historical revisionism to situate his interpretation of Irish history as fact by ignoring historical debate and historiographical methods by giving us the "tale of two Patricks" theory, that is, the theory that Saint Patrick was the Roman Palladius. However, this is not accepted in academia and has been disproven in the same publication that published the original article. Beyond this, Shanahan makes several claims that are not backed up by the evidence he provides or even any evidence at all in some places. As with most pop history, the citations are few and far between; often, quotes are uncited or provided with vague directions, such as X said "...".
There is a bibliography, but this is unhelpful when some citations that are in the footnotes don't show up there, for example, Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" is cited in one of the later chapters, specifically the 1776 edition, but this fails to appear in the bibliography.
Some chapters don't even look at Ireland for the majority of the chapter despite being a social history of Ireland. While it's important to understand what was going on around Ireland, what interests countries that were invading Ireland had, and their internal issues and those effects on Ireland, it seems like Ireland is at times forgotten. There are times when he talks about England at length that he feels he is showing off his English history knowledge, oftentimes without citations. There are also several times when terms are used but not explained; for example, he talks about the "graces" during the confederation but doesn't explain who they are. There are also times when he uses the term "undertakers"; while the first usage is explained, there are other times it's used when the explanation doesn't fit, which can be difficult for readers unfamiliar with the history.
Some further nitpicking would be the lack of proofreading, there's numerous errors with some words having an extra letter at the end, commas in the wrong place or not appearing at all where they should, sentence structure being confusing and some chapters feeling repetitive in the sense that they should have been in others, the last three for example should have been 1 chapter.
However, the positives are within the scope of the book; the broad overview allows for some leeway in the criticisms as it offers more of a primer than an in-depth study. Shanahan does well to establish the role of religion, colonialism and Anglo-Norman rule and their consequences on the island. For the reader looking for a book that gives them a basic knowledge of over millennia of information to delve into more, Shanahan offers this.
Furthermore, Shanahan engages in historical revisionism to situate his interpretation of Irish history as fact by ignoring historical debate and historiographical methods by giving us the "tale of two Patricks" theory, that is, the theory that Saint Patrick was the Roman Palladius. However, this is not accepted in academia and has been disproven in the same publication that published the original article. Beyond this, Shanahan makes several claims that are not backed up by the evidence he provides or even any evidence at all in some places. As with most pop history, the citations are few and far between; often, quotes are uncited or provided with vague directions, such as X said "...".
There is a bibliography, but this is unhelpful when some citations that are in the footnotes don't show up there, for example, Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" is cited in one of the later chapters, specifically the 1776 edition, but this fails to appear in the bibliography.
Some chapters don't even look at Ireland for the majority of the chapter despite being a social history of Ireland. While it's important to understand what was going on around Ireland, what interests countries that were invading Ireland had, and their internal issues and those effects on Ireland, it seems like Ireland is at times forgotten. There are times when he talks about England at length that he feels he is showing off his English history knowledge, oftentimes without citations. There are also several times when terms are used but not explained; for example, he talks about the "graces" during the confederation but doesn't explain who they are. There are also times when he uses the term "undertakers"; while the first usage is explained, there are other times it's used when the explanation doesn't fit, which can be difficult for readers unfamiliar with the history.
Some further nitpicking would be the lack of proofreading, there's numerous errors with some words having an extra letter at the end, commas in the wrong place or not appearing at all where they should, sentence structure being confusing and some chapters feeling repetitive in the sense that they should have been in others, the last three for example should have been 1 chapter.
However, the positives are within the scope of the book; the broad overview allows for some leeway in the criticisms as it offers more of a primer than an in-depth study. Shanahan does well to establish the role of religion, colonialism and Anglo-Norman rule and their consequences on the island. For the reader looking for a book that gives them a basic knowledge of over millennia of information to delve into more, Shanahan offers this.
Displaying 1 of 1 review