This is a scholarly new study of Ireland during the eighteenth century. In the first full-scale examination of an entire Irish county, Thomas P. Power sets out to reconstruct in detail the economic, social, and political history of Tipperary, Ireland's largest inland county. Using extensive and meticulous research, he examines the growing commercialization of the local economy, the changing composition of landed society, the dynamics of land tenure, sectarian tension, and the emergence of long-term rural unrest. In addition, he devotes a chapter to the revolutionary decade of the 1790s.

Thomas P. Power's profile page

Thomas P. Power is at University of Toronto.

'scholarly study ... Using an impressive array of original evidence he skilfully goes on to prove that Tipperary the microcosm can be used both to prove and disprove historical theories applied to the wider macrocosm of Ireland. Thomas Power's study of eighteenth-century Tipperary is clearly a vital contribution to Irish historiography, both in terms of local and wider national implications. He combines thorough research, rational analysis and persuasive argument, effectively proposing that research on a fragment can clarify the picture of the whole.' Martyn J. Powell, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, British Journal of Eighteenth Century Studies, Vol. 19

'By taking this county as his area for study, Dr Power has not only opened out a hitherto murky period but has also cast a new light on the better known nineteenth century ... a comprehensive account of the changes in land ownership brought about by the Cromwellians and during the subsequent Restoration and Williamite periods. One of the fascinating things about this book is the extent to which Dr Power has uncovered so much information about the personalities that dominated Tipperary life in the eighteenth century. The book is well edited ... Over the past number of years a large amount of material has been published on the history of the county, but nothing as important as the book under review ... no one with a serious interest in the history of Tipperary county should be without a copy of this book.' Denis G. Marnane, Tipperary Historical Journal 1994andR

'this is an important contribution in a rapidly changing field, Power's scholarship is most valuable because it is the first full-scale examination of an entire Irish county for the period.' Jeremy Black, Archives

'this is an important contribution in a rapidly developing field ... Power's scholarship is most valuable because it is the first full-scale examination of an entire Irish country for the period, and one that studies in detail the economic, social and political history of the county.' Jeremy Black, BRA - Archives - Vol. XXI, No. 92, October 1994

'The strength of Tom Power's book is the painstaking probing of this complex matrix ... this book provides and unequalled anatomy of an eighteenth-century county ... Power's industry is admirable ... It is a landmark volume in demonstrating the interplay between the local, the regional and the national.' Kevin Whelan, History Ireland, Winter 1993

'illustrates in vivid detail major themes in eighteenth-century Irish history ... Few would wish to quarrel with the topics chosen for illustration, and most of us would envy the author's skill in summarizing the relevant literature.' Sidney Pollard, EHR, June 1996

'tightly packed volume of carefully selected details ... Throughout, Power is fair-minded and thorough investigation ...this volume will be in most university and larger public libraries, where all concerned with this Irish history can have access. For the serious scholar concerned with Irish history, it is indispensable.' Canadian Journal of History