Drink And Culture In Nineteenth Century Ireland

The vibrant Irish public house of the nineteenth century hosted broad networks of social power, enabling publicans and patrons to disseminate tremendous influence across Ireland and beyond. During the period, affluent publicans coalesced into one of the most powerful and sophisticated forces in Irish parliamentary politics. Among the leading figures of public life, they commanded an unmatched economic route to middle-class prosperity, inserted themselves into the centre of crucial legislative debates, and took part in fomenting the issues of class, gender, and national identity which continue to be contested today. From the other side of the bar, regular patrons relied on this social institution to construct, manage and spread their various social and political causes. From Daniel O'Connell to the Guinness dynasty, from the Acts of Union to the Great Famine, and from Christmas boxes to Fenianism; Bradley Kadel offers a first and much-needed scholarly examination of the 'incendiary politics of the pub' in nineteenth-century Ireland.

This collection emanates from the 2008 Society for the Study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland Conference.

Ã?Â?Ã?«A book edited by two such distinguished historians as James S. Donnelly Jr., and Kerby A. Miller promises to be lively and important: this collection of ten essays fully lives up to the expectations raised by the editorial imprimatur. The articles by an impressive panel of authors are source-based, and the tight editorial control is reflected in the way in which they complement one another.Ã?Â?Ã?Â- American Historical Review

"It has often been argued that 'modern' leisure was born in the period from the mid-nineteenth century to the outbreak of World War One. Then, it has been suggested, that if leisure was not 'invented' its forms and meanings changed. Despite the recent expansion of the literature on Irish popular cultures - perhaps most strikingly sport - the conceptions, purposes, and practical manifestations of leisure among the Irish during this critical period have yet to receive the attention they deserve. This collection represents an attempt to address this. In twelve essays that explore vibrant expressions of associational culture, the emergence of new leisure spaces, literary manifestations and representations of leisure, the pleasures and purposes of travel, and the leisure pursuits of elite women the collection offers a variety of perspectives on the volume's theme. As becomes apparent in these studies, all manner of activity, from music to football, reading to dining, travel to photography, dancing to dining, visiting to cycling, child's play to fighting and attitudes to these were shaped not just by the drive to pleasure but by ideas of class, respectability, improvement and social control as well as political, social, educational, medical and religious ideologies." --

Ordinary Lives, Death, and Social Class focuses on the evolution of the Dublin City Coroner's Court and on Dr Louis A. Bryne's first two years in office. Wrapping itself around the 1901 census, the study uses gender, power, and blame as analytical frameworks to examine what inquests can tell us about the impact of urban living from lifecycle and class perspectives. Coroners' inquests are a combination of eyewitness testimony, expert medico-legal language, detailed minutiae of people, places, and occupational identities pinned to a moment in time. Thus they have a simultaneous capacity to reveal histories from both above and below. Rich in geographical, socio-economic, cultural, class, and medical detail, these records collated in a liminal setting about the hour of death bear incredible witness to what has often been termed 'ordinary lives'. The subjects of Dr Byrne's court were among the poorest in Ireland and, apart from common medical causes problems linked to lower socio-economic groups, this volume covers preventable cases of workplace accidents, neglect, domestic abuse, and homicide.

In recent years the concept of 'civil society' has become central to the historian's understanding of class, cultural and political power in the nineteenth-century town and city. Increasingly clubs and voluntary societies have been regarded as an important step in the formation of formal political parties, particularly for the working and middle classes. The result of this is the assertion that the more associations existing in a particular society, the deeper democracy becomes entrenched. In order to test this hypothesis, this volume brings together essays by an international group of urban historians who examine the construction of civil society from associational activity in the urban place. From their studies, it soon becomes clear that such simple propositions do not adequately reflect the dynamics of nineteenth-century urban society and politics. Urban associations were ideological in purpose and deliberately discriminatory and as such set the boundaries of civil society. Thus competing and segmented associations were not only an indication of pluralism and strength, but also highlighted a fundamental weakness when faced down by the interests of the state. Through a wide array of urban associations in a broad range of settings, comprising Austria and Bratislava, France and Italy, the Netherlands, Austro-Hungary, England, Scotland and the US, this volume reflects on the construction of class, nation and culture in the associations of the nineteenth-century urban place. In so doing it shows that a deep and interlocking civil society does not automatically lead to a rise in democratic activity. Expansion of the networks of urban association could equally result in greater subdivision and to the fragmentation and isolation of certain groups. Partition as much as coherence is our understanding of civil society and associations in the nineteenth-century urban place.

This collection of essays covers the representation and practice of drinking a variety of beverages across 18th- and 19th-century Britain and North America. The case studies in this volume cover drinking culture from a variety of perspectives, including literature, history, anthropology, and the history of medicine.