A review of 'Old World Colony: Cork and South Munster, 1630-1830 by David Dickson' (Pre-published version)

Abstract

David Dickson's monumental work analyzes society in the southern Irish counties of Cork, Kerry, and west Waterford in the two centuries before the Great Famine, addressing the evolution of a key region and exploring plantation, cultural assimilation, and socioeconomic change. It not only reconstructs contemporary society but illuminates developments in the region and beyond in the following century when the twin forces of reforming state and emergent nationalism undermined the "old colony."