Eight essays examine the experience and role of the Irish in the British empire during the 19th and 20th centuries, based on the understanding that, Ireland being less integrated, it differed from that of the other Celtic nations submerged in the United Kingdom. They discuss film, sport, India, the Irish military tradition, Irish unionists, Empire Day in Ireland from 1896 to 1962, Northern Irish businessmen, and Ulster resistance and loyalist rebellion. Distributed in the US by St. Martin's Press. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Modern Irish history was determined by the rise, expansion, and decline of the British Empire. British imperial history, from the age of Atlantic expansion to the age of decolonization, was moulded in part by Irish experience. But the nature of Ireland's position in the Empire has always been a matter of contentious dispute. Was Ireland a sister kingdom and equal partner in a larger British state? Or was it, because of its proximity and strategic importance, the Empire's most subjugated colony? Contemporaries disagreed strongly on these questions, and historians continue to do so. Questions of this sort can only be answered historically: Ireland's relationship with Britain and the Empire developed and changed over time, as did the Empire itself. This book offers the first comprehensive history of the subject from the early modern era through to the contemporary period. The contributors seek to specify the nature of Ireland's entanglement with empire over time: from theconquest and colonization of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, through the consolidation of Ascendancy rule in the eighteenth, the Act of Union in the period 1801-1921, the emergence of an Irish Free State and Republic, and eventual withdrawal from the British Commonwealth in 1948. They also consider the participation of Irish people in the Empire overseas, as soldiers, administrators, merchants, migrants, and missionaries; the influence of Irish social, administrative, and constitutional precedents in other colonies; and the impact of Irish nationalism and independence on the Empire at large. The result is a new interpretation of Irish history in its wider imperial context which is also filled with insights on the origins, expansion, and decline of the British Empire.
The Discovery of Islands consists of a series of linked essays in British history, written by one of the world's leading historians of political thought and published over the past three decades. Its purpose is to present British history as that of several nations interacting with - and sometimes seceding from - an imperial state. The commentary presents this history as that of an archipelago, expanding across oceans to the Antipodes. Both New Zealand history and the author's New Zealand heritage inform this vision, presenting British history as oceanic and global, complementing (and occasionally criticising) the presentation of that history as European. Professor Pocock's interpretation of British history has been hugely influential in recent years, making The Discovery of Islands a resource of immense value for historians of Britain and the world.
John Stuart Mill's political essays are a blend of the practical and the theoretical. In this volume are gathered together those in which the practical emphasis is more marked; those in which theory is predominant are found in Essays on Politics and Society, Vols XVIII and XIX of the Collected Works. The Essays on England, Ireland, and the Empire are mainly from Mill's early career as a propagandist for the Philosophic Radicals (a term he himself coined). They provide a contemporary running account of British political issues at home and abroad, with a vigorous and sometimes acerbic commentary. Historians as well as political scientists will find interesting details of the view from the radical side, and all students of Mill will welcome the further elucidation of his development. Of special interest are his precocious if tendentious attack on Hume's History of England, and his reactions to Canadian and Irish issues, the latter being the subject of a previously unpublished manuscript. The textual apparatus includes a collation of the manuscript materials and identification of Mill's quotations and references.
The volume highlights Ireland’s cultural and linguistic influence in the world. It springs from research carried out on the relationship between Ireland and England, and pays special attention to the concept of “colony”. Traditional adjectives like “colonial” and “post-colonial” have been purposely avoided in the title of the book. When referring to Ireland, they reinforce a prejudicial perspective and blur the relevant influence of its cultural heritage and identity. In the decades after independence, Ireland was predominantly defined in terms of separatism and isolation, and in a contrasting, antagonistic relationship with Britain. Recent studies have instead explored the essential connectedness of Irish culture. The concept of an Irish cultural empire counterbalances this bias, and this publication will advance the reader’s understanding of international strands in Irish identity. The wide-ranging choice of authors and topics sets the essays here in a broader context which outlines a chronological thread starting by dealing with Ireland’s major cultural impact in Europe during the Middle Ages and the influence of classic motifs in Anglo-Irish culture. Contributions focus on 18th, 19th and 20th century Irish writers who export their legacy abroad. In addition, the volume offers new perspectives on Irish emigration to Australia and the USA.
Volume I of the Oxford History of the British Empire explores the origins of empire. It shows how and why England, and later Britain, became involved with transoceanic navigation, trade, and settlement during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The chapters, by leading historians, both illustrate the interconnections between developments in Europe and overseas and offer specialist studies on every part of the world that was substantially affected by British colonial activity. As late as 1630 involvement with regions beyond the traditional confines of Europe was still tentative; by 1690 it had become a firm commitment. series blurb The Oxford History of the British Empire is a major new assessment of the Empire in the light of recent scholarship and the progressive opening of historical records. It deals with the interaction of British and non-western societies from the Elizabethan era to the late twentieth century, aiming to provide a balanced treatment of the ruled as well as the rulers, and to take into account the significance of the Empire for the peoples of the British Isles. It explores economic and social trends as well as political.
"The book challenges the common view that the Exhibition symbolized peace, progress, prosperity, and the emergence of an industrial middle class. Auerbach suggests instead that the Great Exhibition became a cultural battlefield on which proponents of different visions of industrialization, modernization, and internationalism fought for ascendancy in the struggle for a new national identity."--BOOK JACKET.
Examines traditions of Utilitarianism and political economy in Victorian literature and culture through the writings of Bentham, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Charles Dickens, and others.
