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Jane Austen
In this book a distinguished historian explores the novels of Jane Austen, showing how they illuminate English history in the quarter century before 1792 and 1817 and how, in turn, an appreciation of this period in history enriches our reading of the novels. Oliver MacDonagh paints a picture of Jane Austen's life and personality and of the social and political worlds she inhabited during and immediately after the Napoleonic Wars. Analyzing her letters as well as her novels, he shows how Austen's experiences and her reactions to events were woven into her fiction. Each chapter combines an examination of Jane Austen's ideas and conduct in a particular field with a consideration of her treatmen...
Ireland
Oliver MacDonagh described the first version of Ireland: The Union and its Aftermath, published in 1968, as 'a very small book with very large themes'. The book rapidly reached the status of a classic and remains a thought-provoking survey of the history of Ireland from the Act of Union of 1800 until modern times. MacDonagh regarded the Act of Union as the most important single factor in shaping Ireland as a nation in the modern world. Although subordination to Britain had influenced Irish development before 1800, it took a rapidly different form under the Act of Union: 'The experience of being assimilated by, and resisting assimilation into, a powerful and alien empire -- perhaps the master-culture of the nineteenth century -- was truly traumatic.' Book jacket.
Looking Back
This book is a selection of historian Oliver MacDonagh's writings edited and introduced by his former student, Tom Dunne, who contibutes an account of MacDonagh's career and a bibliography. It brings together a series of childhood memories of a bank manager's son in 1930s Roscommon, with reflections on a lifetime spent writing several different kinds of history, in Ireland, England and Australia. Oliver MacDonagh was a significant writer as well as a distinguished historian, his work marked by a sophistication of style and intellect. As Roy Foster remarks in his preface, 'Oliver MacDonagh was a great scholar, and a good deal more.' He is best known in Ireland for States of Mind: A Study of A...
States of Mind
Originally published in 1983 and slightly revised in 1985, joint winner of the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, States of Mind is an exploration f the ideas underlying Anglo-Irish conflict over the past two centuries. This is a book about nationalism and colonialism and above all about political ideology. The ideology is popular, to be inferred from behaviour rather than found in treatises. Often it was, and is, expressed in images and slogans. The resultant cross-purposes and double meanings, ambiguity and dualism are characteristic of cultural collision and accommodation generally. This book throws light upon a very wide range of modern history, and not just upon the relations of one particular metropolitan power and its dependency. The definition and treatment of the subject, as well as the conclusions, are strikingly novel.
The Making of Ireland
The Making of Ireland by James Lydon provides an accessible history of Ireland from the earliest times. James Lydon recounts, in colourful detail, the waves of settlers, missionaries and invaders which have come to Ireland since pre-history and offers a long perspective on Irish history right up to the present time. This comprehensive survey includes discussion of the arrival of St. Patrick in the fifth century and Henry II in the twelfth, as well as that of numerous soldiers, traders and craftsmen through the ages. The author explores how these settlers have shaped the political and cultural climate of Ireland today. James Lydon charts the changing racial mix of Ireland through the ages which shaped the Irish nation. The author also follows Ireland's long and troubled entanglement with England from its beginning many centuries ago. The Making of Ireland offers a complete history in one volume. Through a predominantly political narrative, James Lydon provides a coherent and readable introduction to this vital complex history.
The Invention of the White Race
"A monumental study of the birth of racism in the American South which makes truly new and convincing points about one of the most critical problems in US history a highly original and seminal work." David Roediger, University of Missouri
The Home Office, 1848-1914, from Clerks to Bureaucrats
Examines the changing social and educational backgrounds functions of the British civil servant, especially after the reforms following the Northcote-Trevelyan report. Considers the structure of the department and the Home Office's alleged failure to effectively respond to contemporary social and political needs.
