A new book ‘Inside Rural Ireland: Power and Change Since Independence’, edited by Tomas Finn and Tony Varley, provides a deep dive into Ireland’s rural history.
The eyecatching cover image is of Fr – later Canon – John M. Hayes, founder of Muintir na Tire, attending a rural week seminar in Cork, with a female delegate taking a stand behind him.
The collection of essays had its origins in a conference in what is now the University of Galway in June 2018 to mark the acquisition by the James Hardiman library of the archive of Muintir na Tire, the Irish renewal movement that began life in 1931. The conference had ‘rural Ireland in the twentieth century’ as its theme.
The book looks at how, in the early decades of native rule rural Ireland and in particular the new farmer-owners who had emerged as the major winners in the agrarian revolution exerted a considerable influence over the new Free State and over Irish Catholicism.
It tracks the social and cultural progress of rural Ireland from the early days of independence through to present day issues and developments, in a series of insightful essays by a group of leading historians and sociologists.
With a slew of topics under discussion, including class and gender politics, church and State, and a look at the power dynamics among different influential factions in rural society such as ruling politicians, farmers and intellectuals, this book could make the ideal gift for those interested in modern history and the ever shifting cultural landscape of rural Ireland.
Published by UCD Press, ‘Inside Rural Ireland: Power and Change Since Independence’ is priced at €30.00.