From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Those who were able to attend Mary Hickman's and Sarah Morgan's Irish
Diaspora conference, at the Irish Studies Centre, University of North
London, last year, will recall Maurice Fitzgerald's charming paper, some
initial thoughts on the Irish in Italy.

Maurice has placed the paper on his web site at
http://www-staff.lboro.ac.uk/~eumf2/index.htm

The paper is entitled "Gli irlandesi in Italia/the Irish in Italy: from
James Joyce to Robbie Keane".

It was one of the papers that attracted journalistic interest - is that a
good sign or a bad sign?

See the Irish Times
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2000/1106/dia3.htm

P.O'S.

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
irishdiaspora.net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From: Sarah Morgan
Subject: Random Passage

A colleague who is himself from Newfoundland has alerted me to a programme
called 'Random Passage', about Irish migration to Newfoundland, currently
being shown on RTE. Has anyone seen it? Is it worth acquiring and does
anyone have details on how I could do so?

Many thanks. Sarah.

----------------------------
Sarah Morgan (Dr),
Irish Studies Centre,
University of North London,
166-220 Holloway Rd.,
London N7 8DB

+44(0)20 7607 2789 tel
+44(0)20 7753 7069 fax

From: "C. McCaffrey"
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Subject: Re: Ir-D Thomas Nast, 'American Ganges'

Unfortunately history bears this out to be quite true and Nash's fear,
however
blatantly anti-Catholic, could be seen in the light of what happened in
Ireland
in the nineteenth century and after. The Catholic Church under the auspices
of
Archbishop of Tuam John MacHale declared the non-sectarian schools to be
'godless' and forbade their members from attending and went even further and
then forbade them to attend Trinity College, Dublin. As a result they won
from
the British government the control over university education in Ireland.
The
Queens colleges at Cork and Galwy changed over to catholic control in the
process. The Catholic Church has long since been opposed to nationalism
where a
nationalist might put his or her country first and the church second. Their
blatant anti-Home Rule stand and Parnell's fall had much to do with this.
They
always saw education as the key to maintaining a Catholic ethos as opposed
to a
nationalist ethos or any other ethos for that matter.

I do not read anti-Catholic as anti-Irish. I'm with Joyce on this one - we
served two foreign masters, an Englishman and a Roman and neither one had
Irish
interests at heart.

Carmel

irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk wrote:

> >From "Richard Jensen"
>
> Forwarded for information...
>
> From: "robkennedy"
>
> In case anyone is interested, today's New York Times history cartoon is
> Thomas Nast's famous "The American River Ganges"--his attack on the
Catholic
> Church's alleged threat to public education.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0508.html
>
> Robert C. Kennedy
> robkennedy[at]email.msn.com
>
> [Note: A number of Ir-D list members have brought this item to our
> attention, and of course we have in the past discussed Nast's work.
P.O'S.]

From: "Thomas J. Archdeacon"
To:
Subject: RE: Ir-D Random Passage


I too would be very interested in learning more about this program.

Tom

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
[mailto:owner-irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk]On Behalf Of
irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 11:00 AM
To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Subject: Ir-D Random Passage



From: Sarah Morgan
Subject: Random Passage

A colleague who is himself from Newfoundland has alerted me to a programme
called 'Random Passage', about Irish migration to Newfoundland, currently
being shown on RTE. Has anyone seen it? Is it worth acquiring and does
anyone have details on how I could do so?

Many thanks. Sarah.

----------------------------
Sarah Morgan (Dr),
Irish Studies Centre,
University of North London,
166-220 Holloway Rd.,
London N7 8DB

+44(0)20 7607 2789 tel
+44(0)20 7753 7069 fax

Our attention has been drawn to the following item...

P.O'S.



ireland.com - The Irish Times - IRELAND

Thursday, May 10, 2001

Links severed
with NY parade


From Patrick Smyth, Washington Correspondent
The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), for long synonymous with the
New
York St Patrick's Day parade, has severed all formal links with the
event.
The move, accompanied by threats to discipline members if they do not
comply, marks the culmination of an increasingly bitter dispute over
control of the march with the parade committee which 10 years ago
became
legally independent of the AOH, the organisers of the march since the
early 1900s.
In 1992, with AOH support, a supposedly independent corporation was
founded to run the event because of fears of litigation by the Irish
Lesbian and Gay Organisation (ILGO) over its right to march.
Though it kept the ILGO at bay, the price was an independence which
now
rankles.
The St Patrick's Day Parade and Celebration Committee's executive
secretary, Mr Jim Barker, describes the current row as "mind
boggling".
He says the AOH's national officers have failed to turn up at meetings
and
claims they have no idea how the parade is run.
In 10 years, he says, the corporation and committee have turned the
finances of the parade around.
Then they had $11 in the bank and debts of $100,000, faced court
litigation and got a mere one hour of TV time.
Now they have a lot of money in the bank and four hours' TV with the
potential of an Emmy award for the best broadcast public event.
Just how much money he did not say. However, this year some 180,000
marched and the parade was watched by over 21/2
million between the streets and TV. Insurance alone cost the
organisers
$41,000.
However, citing the "intransigence of the parade committee" and a
"lack of
co-operation" by its officers, the president of the New York State
AOH, Mr
Timothy Comerford, wrote to the president of the county board which
covers
Manhattan, Mr David Kilkenny, ordering him to sever AOH links with the
committee and to inform the Mayor's Office and police department that
the
parade no longer had an association with the AOH.
Mr Kilkenny has since been suspended from office.
Mr Mick Cummings, the press officer of the AOH, says that the
committee
had failed to respond to requests from the AOH which ranged from
details
of parade insurance to the election of the grand marshal under AOH
rules,
to the opening of the books to see how the huge amounts raised in
sponsorship were spent.
"We have no idea whether they even paid any taxes in the last eight
years," Mr Comerford told the Irish Voice paper.
Mr Cummings denies that the AOH is interested in running an
alternative
parade but says it is "deadly dull if you're not employed by the city
or
didn't go to school or college there".
While emerging out of the AOH, the committee and corporation insist on
autonomy. Speaking to The Irish Times in March, the committee's
president
since 1992, Mr John Dunleavy, strongly defended its accountability.
He says that although it is a private corporation it answers to 186
affiliated organisations, including many individual AOH branches,
county
associations, schools, colleges and emerald societies in organisations
such as the police and fire service.
That may be the theory, says Mr Cummings, but in practice a
"self-electing
group" of about five takes all the decisions.
Between fending off the AOH and defending the parade from those on the
left who would like to see it reflect a broader and less explicitly
Catholic ethos, Mr Dunleavy has his hands full. A tribute of sorts to
the
march's continuing importance.










© 2001 ireland.comTop of Page About Us Contact Us Make Us
Your
HomePage Advertising Information

From: "William H. Mulligan, Jr"
Subject: Re: Ir-D Thomas Nast, 'American Ganges' 2

Setting aside the Irish context -- which I will leave for others more
familiar with the details than I to address -- there can be little question
that for Nast and many other nativists there was a strong connection between
anti-Catholic and anti-Irish sentiments. It is hard to argue they were not
one and the same. The cartoon makes the linkage clearly -- the two flags are
the papal flag and the "Harp" flag associated with Ireland.


- ----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 11:00 AM
Subject: Ir-D Thomas Nast, 'American Ganges' 2


> http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0508.html
>

From: John FitzGerald
Subject: Re: Ir-D Random Passage

At 04:00 PM 5/10/2001 +0000, you wrote:
>
>From: Sarah Morgan
>Subject: Random Passage
>
>A colleague who is himself from Newfoundland has alerted me to a programme
>called 'Random Passage', about Irish migration to Newfoundland, currently
>being shown on RTE. Has anyone seen it? Is it worth acquiring and does
>anyone have details on how I could do so?
>
>Many thanks. Sarah.
>
>----------------------------
>Sarah Morgan (Dr),
>Irish Studies Centre,
>University of North London,
>166-220 Holloway Rd.,
>London N7 8DB
>
>+44(0)20 7607 2789 tel
>+44(0)20 7753 7069 fax
>

_Random Passage_ is the title of a book by Newfoundland author Bernice
Morgan, a fictive story of English and Irish settlement in Newfoundland in
the early 19th century. This book sold very well here in Canada, as did
_Waiting for Time_, its sequel. _Random Passage_ has been made into a
feature length movie, which, I suspect, is what is appearing on RTE. As
historical fiction the book is a "good read" (As a Newfoundlander I'm
biased, of course), but I have some trouble with the stereotypes of the
Irish and Newfoundlanders therein. I have not seen the movie based on this
book, but if the book was any indication, I would be wary of the film's
version of the history of Irish migration to Newfoundland.

The book(s) may be found online through ABE Books, or ordered from the
Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, which may be
reached at nhpa[at] nfld.com

John FitzGerald
Dept. of History
Memorial University

From: "Brian McGinn"
Subject: Random Passage

See Irish Times review, Features, Saturday, 5 May 2001:

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/features/2001/0505/fea10.htm


Brian McGinn
Alexandria, Virginia
bmcginn[at]clark.net

From: Marion Casey
Subject: Re: Ir-D AOH Links severed with NY parade

Hello Paddy,

I think it is important that the list sees the local coverage of this
development. The Irish Times piece is not comprehensive enough.

AOH leader suspended in parade stalemate
© 2001 Irish Echo Newspaper Corp.
May 9-15, 2001
By Ray O'Hanlon
http://www.irishecho.com/news/article.cfm?id=9181

For my part, as I read about the standoff between Messrs. Comerford and
Killkenny, I smile at how sweetly ironic history can be at times. The
controversial man who ran the New York City parade for many years during
the late twentieth century was Judge James J. Comerford, a native of Co.
Kilkenny. I highly recommend Calvin Trillin's account of parade
machinations under that Comerford: "American Chronicles: Democracy in
Action" (The New Yorker, 21 March 1988). A little excerpt will suffice
for now:

"During the Judge's reign, it is said, the man who was to have the honor
of being grand marshal of the parade was not elected but anointed...The
men chosen by the Judge to fulfill these [parade] duties were worthy men
all. They were selected in a way that spread the honor around his
various constituencies -- a police commissioner one year, a labor leader
the next year, a loyal soldier of the parade committee the year after
that -- and they were quietly confirmed in advance by a few men of
influence. A worthy candidate need only wait his turn....When people
who are active in the parade recall Judge Comerford's reign, the phrase
of his they most savor is the one he often used when someone mentioned
himself as just the sort of public-spirited benefactor of the
Irish-American community who should be named grand marshal. The Judge
would fix his eye on the supplicant and say, in a brogue still redolent
of County Kilkenny, 'It's not your year.'"

Trillin also reported the late Paul O'Dwyer's take on things: "This is
a subculture with its own gods and the St. Patrick's Day parade had
become a symbol of that subculture."

Marion R. Casey
Department of History
New York University

From: "Richard Jensen"
Subject: Chinese Exclusion
Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 02:14:29 -0400

From: Jennie Lew
Subject: Chinese Exclusion Act Era Website


The National Asian American Telecommunications Assn. (NAATA) has
sponsored a re-edit of "SEPARATE LIVES, BROKEN DREAMS", a broadcast
documentary regarding the Chinese Exclusion Act era of the American
immigration experience. This one-hour, Emmy nominated program explores
the impact that over 60 years of Exclusion had on individuals,
families
and entire communities here in America and overseas in China. The
Chinese
Exclusion Act marked the first time that a specific race of immigrants
was prohibited from entering the United States, and it proved to be a
major turning point in American immigration policy.

The program is airing in several local PBS markets throughout the
coming
year (e.g. Hawaii, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Dallas,
Massachusetts .... see NAATA Website for on-going listings of air
dates
and locations). NAATA, together with Producer/Director Jennie Lew, has
developed a Website that expands on the material and subject presented
in
the televised broadcast. Fascinating excerpts from individual case
files
and government documents from the National Archives provide an
intimate
look at not only personal stories from this dark period in American
immigration history , but reveals some of the complicated
institutional
proceedures and policies at that time as well. The Website allows
members
of the audience to examine detailed interrogation transcripts,
personal
letters written in their original Chinese calligraphy, and even
selections from one of the most famous case files from the Exclusion
era,
that of Sun Yat Sen (the revolutionary leader that transformed China
from
a country under dynastic rule to that of a Republic).

The URL for the NAATA "SEPARATE LIVES, BROKEN DREAMS" Website is:

http://www.naatanet.org/separatelivesbrokendreams/

Comments regarding the Site are welcome and can be addressed to those
listed in the End Credits or "Comments" portion of the Site.

REGARDS -- Jennie F. Lew, Producer/Dir.

------------------------------

End of E-DOCS Digest - 10 Jun 2002 to 11 Jun 2002 (#2002-21)
************************************************************

From: DanCas1[at]aol.com
Subject: Celtic Culture Coup: Muppets Learn Irish

Gaelic curtain rises on
Kermit and Miss Piggy It's time to start the music, light the lights and say
cead mile failte to the Muppets. Because from September, Kermit, Miss Piggy,
Gonzo and the rest of the Muppet menagerie are to be transformed into fluent
Gaelic speakers for TG4, the Irish language television station. Even the
original theme music is being translated.

"It will have to be slightly bilingual because some of the songs won't
translate," TG4 told Sue.

"Guests will also speak in English, so you may have Miss Piggy speaking to
someone like Tom Hanks in Irish and him answering her in English."

Stand by for quite a lot of this - TG4 bought the rights to 200 hours of the
Muppets earlier this year. Some of the newer characters are even being given
Irish names and catch phrases. Auditions have just finished for the
characters' voices, but the successful actors have to be approved by the
Muppets' creators, the Jim Henson Company. What a shame Peig and Dev are not
around to witness this truly remarkable leap forward for the Irish language.




- --part1_30.14ada5d4.2830247f_boundary
Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Gaelic curtain rises on
Kermit and Miss Piggy It's time to start the music,
light the lights and say
cead mile failte to the Muppets. Because from September, Kermit, Miss
Piggy,
Gonzo and the rest of the Muppet menagerie are to be transformed into
fluent
Gaelic speakers for TG4, the Irish language television station. Even the
original theme music is being translated.

"It will have to be slightly bilingual because some of the songs won't
translate," TG4 told Sue.

"Guests will also speak in English, so you may have Miss Piggy speaking
to
someone like Tom Hanks in Irish and him answering her in English."

Stand by for quite a lot of this - TG4 bought the rights to 200 hours of
the
Muppets earlier this year. Some of the newer characters are even being
given
Irish names and catch phrases. Auditions have just finished for the
characters' voices, but the successful actors have to be approved by the
Muppets' creators, the Jim Henson Company. What a shame Peig and Dev are
not
around to witness this truly remarkable leap forward for the Irish
language.




- --part1_30.14ada5d4.2830247f_boundary--

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

A chance for Londoners to meet that busy man, Bob Reece - who is doing so
much to develop Irish Studies in Western Australia. I might even see if I
can park the children and get along myself...

P.O'S.


Book Launch

KING'S College LONDON
Founded 1829

The Origins of Irish Convict Transportation to New South Wales
by Bob Reece

To be launched by
Professor Carl Bridge,
Head, Menzies Centre for Australian Studies

18.30 Wednesday 23 May 2001
Hancock Room, 28 Russell Square WC1

All welcome - admission free RSVP - tel 020- 7862 8854
email menzies.centre[at]kcl.ac.uk
Menzies Centre for Australian Studies King's College London

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
irishdiaspora.net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Subject: Reminder: Irish Conference of Historians

Forwarded on behalf of
Niall O Ciosáin
Department of History,
National University of Ireland, Galway



EXPLAINING CHANGE IN CULTURAL HISTORY

25th Irish Conference of Historians

NUI, Galway, 18-20 May 2001


TIMETABLE

FRIDAY 18th May

2.00 Registration - D'Arcy Thompson Theatre, Arts Building

3.00 Anne Rigney (Amsterdam)
'Scarcity and recycling in cultural change'

Janice Holmes (Ulster)
'Transformation or aberration? Explaining the Ulster Revival of
1859'

4.45 Tea / Coffee

5.00 Martin Burke (CUNY)
'Explaining or evading change in early American cultural
history'


SATURDAY 19th May

9.00 Günther Lottes (Potsdam)
'From court culture to national culture: a continental
experience of cultural change'

Raingard Esser (UWE, Bristol) 'The late great
inundation: tradition and change in early modern
disaster management'

10.45 Tea / Coffee

11.15 Donnchadh O Corráin (Cork)
'From sanctity to depravity: the Irish Church 700-1200'

Sean O'Connell (Ulster)
'Credit, debt and guilt: exploring cultural and moral obstacles to
the development of consumer society'



Lunch

2.15 Marshall Sahlins (Chicago):
'Culture and agency in history'

3.40 Tea / Coffee

4.00 Rab Houston (St. Andrews)
'"Minority" languages and cultural change in early modern Europe.'

Luke Gibbons (Notre Dame)
'Ghosts of the Nation: Modernity and Gothic Memory'


Conference Dinner, 8pm

SUNDAY 20th May


10.00 Michael Cronin (DCU):
'Halting Sites: translation, transmission and history'

Patrick Joyce (Manchester)
'Rethinking the social: changing cultural history?'

11.40 Tea / Coffee

12.00 Dipesh Chakrabarty (Chicago)
'Subaltern Studies and Postcolonial Histories.'


REGISTRATION

Full Conference: £45 (£20 students/unwaged)
Saturday only: £30 (£15 students/unwaged)
Friday or Sunday only: £15 (£5 students/unwaged)
Conference Dinner: £30 per person

Please make cheques payable to:
"Irish Conference of Historians 2001"

Contact:
Niall O Ciosáin
Department of History,
National University of Ireland, Galway

Ph. 353-91-524411 ext 3019
Fax: 353-91-750556
e-mail: niall.ociosain[at]nuigalway.ie

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

FORWARDED FOR INFORMATION...

H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-Albion[at]h-net.msu.edu (May, 2001)

Jane H. Ohlmeyer, ed. _Political Thought in Seventeenth-Century
Ireland: Kingdom or Colony_. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2000. xvii + 290 pp. Maps, notes, and index. $59.95
(cloth) ISBN 0-521-65083-6.

Reviewed for H-Albion by Karl S. Bottigheimer,
, Department of History, State
University of New York, Stony Brook

Between 1996 and 1998 the Folger Shakespeare Library and
Institute in Washington, D.C. sponsored a series of three
semester-long seminars devoted first to sixteenth, then
seventeenth, and finally eighteenth century political thought in
Ireland. Scholars were invited from both sides of the Atlantic,
and their contributions have now taken the form of three volumes
of papers, albeit issued by two different publishing houses.
The volume discussed here derived from the middle seminar,
co-ordinated by Jane Ohlmeyer of the University of Abderdeen,
who also served as its editor. The Anglocentric Folger's
excursion to John Bull's Other Island took place under the
auspices of its Centre for the History of British Political
Thought, and of Professor J.G.A. Pocock of Johns Hopkins
University. Pocock appropriately contributes a summary
"afterword" to this volume which, as a whole, can be viewed as
yet another response to his seminal mid-1970s articulation of
the "British History Problem."

Aidan Clarke writes on "Patrick Darcy and the constitutional
relationship between Ireland and Britain"; Patricia Coughlan on
the political thought of Vincent and Daniel Gookin; Patrick
Kelly on William Molyneux and the sources of "The case of
Ireland ... Stated" (1698); Raymond Gillespie more generally on
Irish political ideas and their social contexts; Bernadette
Cunningham on representations of king, parliament, and the Irish
people in the writings of Geoffrey Keating and John Lynch; Tadhg
O'Hannrachain on Irish political ideology and Catholicism;
Jerrold Casway on "Gaelic Maccabeanism: the politics of
reconciliation"; Allan J. Macinnes on "Covenanting ideology in
seventeenth-century Scotland"; David Armitage on "The political
economy of Britain and Ireland after the Glorious Revolution";
and Charles C. Ludington on "William Atwood and the imperial
crown of Ireland."

In an introductory essay, Ohlmeyer explains that "the term
=EBpolitical thought' has been loosely defined to include anything
generated about politics in Ireland by thinkers of all ethnic
and religious backgrounds, irrespective of whether they resided
in Ireland or not" (p. 1). A generally appreciative summary and
review of the twelve individual essays by Nicholas Canny can be
found in _History Ireland_, 8, 4 (Winter 2000): 47-8, and here
I will approach the volume as a whole in terms of the questions
it addresses. The problem which occupies all of the
contributors in one way or another is the anomalous status of
Ireland, constitutionally, politically, economically, socially,
and culturally. Was it "conquered" by Henry II, or did its
twelfth century nobles willingly put themselves and their
subjects under the Angevin king's generous protection? If it
was proclaimed to be a "kingdom" from 1541, how did that
differentiate it from other areas with unruly populations, like
Virginia, which are usually thought of as "colonies"? If it was
subject to the Tudor (and then the Stuart) monarchy, what
rights, if any, did the Parliament of England have to legislate
for, or to adjudicate over, Ireland and its inhabitants? And
what were the monarch's responsibilities to the people of
Ireland, as distinct from those of his or her other realms?

All of those vexed questions are complicated by the variety of
Ireland's communities, which, by the middle of the seventeenth
century, included Old English, Gaelic Irish, New English, and
Presbyterians from lowland Scotland; many members of the latter
two groups being fairly recent arrivals. And the borders
between the groups, though sometimes sharp, were at other times
virtually indeterminable, due to intermarriage, intermingling,
and assimilation. If each of these groups was capable of
asserting a political "interest," something amounting to
"political thought" was an inevitable accompaniment, despite the
lack of an intellectual titan, comparable to Thomas Hobbes or
John Locke. Political thought in seventeenth century Ireland
flourished in the rough and tumble of daily contention and
occasional conflict.

In his _History Ireland_ review, Canny contends (_contra_
Pocock) that the seventeenth century was "the truly =EBEuropean
century' in the history of modern Ireland. First Spain, then
Scotland, then France, Spain, the papacy, and finally France
alone, successively joined with elements of the Irish population
to challenge the claims of England (or Britain) to be the sole
arbiter of Ireland's destiny" (p. 48). In Canny's view, a
preoccupation with the divided loyalties of the Old English
conduces to what he sees as an excessively British contribution
to Pocock's "New British History."

Perhaps it is less important to establish which was the most
disaffected community than to see the broad spectrum of
disaffection embracing both natives and newcomers. The Gaelic
Irish were disaffected because an expanding monarchy encroached
on their traditional autonomy. The Old English were disaffected
because their former hegemonic status was increasingly
undermined. The New English, too, were disaffected in the
late-seventeenth century because of the continuing insecurity of
their land tenure, and the commercial discrimination against
their exports in the English Parliament. And the Calvinistic
Scots in Ulster were no less embattled than the island's other
inhabitants. As English/British rule became more obtrusive and
ambitious, it found few natural allies, although a pretense of
loyalism was a card which every community was capable of playing
when it seemed advantageous. Political thought in
seventeenth-century Ireland is largely the story of political
complaint against, and resistance to, the changing forms of
English/British authority. This volume and its contributors
usefully explore the many permutations of that theme.

Copyright 2001 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the
redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit,
educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the
author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and
H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For other uses
contact the Reviews editorial staff: hbooks[at]mail.h-net.msu.edu.

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

FORWARDED FOR INFORMATION...


Subject: Re: CFP Annual MELUS conference

CALL FOR PAPERS
MELUS

Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States


16th Annual Conference, April 11-14, 2002

Host: University of Washington=92 Graduate School & Department of
American
Ethnic Studies
Conference Convener: Professor Stephen H. Sumida

Pedagogy, Praxis, andPolitics:
Multiethnic Literature in U.S. Education

Conference site in Seattle: Best Western University Tower, 4507 Brooklyn Ave
NE
[for MELUS hotel reservations, call: (206) 634-2000 or (800) 899-0251]


We invite paper abstracts and complete panel, workshop, and roundtable
proposals on all aspects of multiethnic literatures of the U.S. We
especially encourage those that engage the conference theme. =20

Practical and practice-based issues might include:

how to teach an introductory class in multiethnic literatures of the U.S.
how to teach a specific author, text, theme, ethnic group, etc.
how to introduce or increase the use of multiethnic literatures in
elementary,secondary, and post-secondary education
how graduate programs in literature and composition can prepare students for
teaching in increasingly diverse classrooms
how to facilitate classroom discussions on sensitive issues such as =92=C4=
=FArace=92=C4=F9
andethnicity
how to have academic and civic communities work together to achieve common
goals
Other issues related to ethnic literature and the literature classroom might
include:
how multiethnic literature programs have developed and fared over the years
what happens when politics and aesthetics collide
how student discomfort with =92=C4=FArace=92=C4=F9 affects course
evaluation=
s=92=C4=EEand
what to do
about this
the appropriate use of terms for ethnic identities (e.g., =92=C4=FALatino/a=
=92=C4=F9
versus=92=C4=FAHispanic=92=C4=F9)
the use of ethnic vernacular speech patterns and diction
ethnic humor and racial/cultural stereotypes

All abstracts and proposals (300-500 words)should be submitted in duplicate
(WE NEED TWO COPIES) and accompanied by briefbios of the participant(s).
Fo=
r
more information contact Professor Fred Gardaphe, MELUS Program Chair
(phone:631-632-1215; email: FGar[at]aol.com)

All presenters must be members of MELUS. For information about membership
and renewal visit the MELUS website: http://www.marshall.edu/melus/


Please mail proposals (emailed submissions will not be accepted) postmarked
by October 1, 2001 to: Prof. Kim Martin Long, MELUS 2002 ;Department of
English; Shippensburg University; 1981 Old Main Drive, DHC 113; Shippensburg
PA 17257
[fax for international submissions only: (717) 477-4025]

- --============_-1222180759==_ma============
Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

=46rom: FGar[at]aol.com

Date: Tue, 15 May 2001 08:21:32 EDT

Subject: Re: CFP Annual MELUS conference


ArialCALL FOR PAPERS

MELUS


Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic
Literatures of the United States




16th Annual Conference, April 11-14, 2002



Host: University of Washington=92 Graduate School & Department
of American

Ethnic Studies

Conference Convener: Professor Stephen H. Sumida



Pedagogy, Praxis, andPolitics:

Multiethnic Literature in U.S. Education


Conference site in Seattle: Best Western University Tower, 4507
Brooklyn Ave

NE

[for MELUS hotel reservations, call: (206) 634-2000 or (800) 899-0251]




We invite paper abstracts and complete panel, workshop, and roundtable
proposals on all aspects of multiethnic literatures of the U.S. We

especially encourage those that engage the conference theme. =20


Practical and practice-based issues might include:


how to teach an introductory class in multiethnic literatures of the
U.S.

how to teach a specific author, text, theme, ethnic group, etc.

how to introduce or increase the use of multiethnic literatures in

elementary,secondary, and post-secondary education

how graduate programs in literature and composition can prepare
students for

teaching in increasingly diverse classrooms

how to facilitate classroom discussions on sensitive issues such as
=92=C4=FArace=92=C4=F9

andethnicity

how to have academic and civic communities work together to achieve
common

goals

Other issues related to ethnic literature and the literature classroom
might

include:

how multiethnic literature programs have developed and fared over the
years

what happens when politics and aesthetics collide

how student discomfort with =92=C4=FArace=92=C4=F9 affects course
evaluation=
s=92=C4=EEand
what to do

about this

the appropriate use of terms for ethnic identities (e.g.,
=92=C4=FALatino/a=92=C4=F9

versus=92=C4=FAHispanic=92=C4=F9)

the use of ethnic vernacular speech patterns and diction

ethnic humor and racial/cultural stereotypes


All abstracts and proposals (300-500 words)should be submitted in
duplicate

(WE NEED TWO COPIES) and accompanied by briefbios of the
participant(s). For

more information contact Professor Fred Gardaphe, MELUS Program Chair

(phone:631-632-1215; email: FGar[at]aol.com)


All presenters must be members of MELUS. For information about
membership

and renewal visit the MELUS website: http://www.marshall.edu/melus/



Please mail proposals (emailed submissions
will not be accepted) postmarked

by October 1, 2001 to: Prof. Kim Martin Long, MELUS 2002
;Department of

English; Shippensburg University; 1981 Old Main Drive, DHC 113;
Shippensburg

PA 17257

[fax for international submissions only: (717) 477-4025]


- --============_-1222180759==_ma============--

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

FORWARDED FOR INFORMATION...



H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-Albion[at]h-net.msu.edu (May, 2001)

Bruce Lenman. _England's Colonial Wars 1550-1688: Conflicts,
Empire and National Identity_. Modern Wars in Perspective
Series. Harlow and New York: Longman, 2001. x + 310 pp.
Maps, notes, further reading, and index. $79.95 (cloth) ISBN
0-582-06297-7; $22.00 (paper) 0-582-06296-9.

Reviewed for H-Albion by P=E1draig Lenihan,
, University of Limerick

England's First Colonial Wars

What is a "colonial" war? Lenman defines it as imposing control
on "radically alien" societies, either on the territorial
margins of the colonising state, or, further afield, to secure a
territorial presence or trading supremacy. These episodes of
naval, amphibious and land-based colonial war also involved
rival European powers. Tudor privateering attacks on Spanish
shipping; Anglo-Dutch naval conflicts in the Indian Ocean;
genocidal "feed fights" (p. 233) launched by American colonists
against the Powathan on the Chesapeake; later resistance by
"King Philip" in New England, by now (1675-76) waging gunpowder
warfare; all fall within this colonial rubric. Localised and,
at times, general warfare in Ireland, occupying most of the
latter half of the sixteenth-century (and about half of the
book) does not, at least without qualification and explanation.

Were the Irish, in fact, "radically alien"? Steven Ellis has
argued that conditions in the late medieval English lordship in
Ireland, encompassing about a third of the island but most of
its population and agricultural wealth, approximated those of an
English marchland like the Welsh borders.[1] Lenman incorporates
this perspective by emphasizing the internal frontier between
Irish Gaeldom and the English lordship. This, I think,
predisposes him to overstate the cultural and political
impermeability of that frontier and to draw too sharp a contrast
with the Scottish Gaels who were not, he claims, regarded as
alien by other members of a culturally plural kingdom. A short
review of this nature does not allow this point to be developed,
but the "English" of the lordship in Ireland were (apart from
the towns and some small rural districts such as Fingal and the
baronies of Bargy and Forth) a fairly thin land-owning crust
superimposed on a Gaelic-speaking population of native Irish
descent. In any event, much of the colonial warfare was waged
within the English lordship against the "English" earldoms of
Kildare and Desmond.

Despite all these reservations, I think Lenman is right to
include Ireland within an Atlantic or colonial framework. For
one thing, Ireland and (Jane Ohlmeyer argues[2]) Scotland served
as "laboratories" of Empire where the likes of Walter Ralegh or
Humphrey Gilbert applied assumptions of barbarism, confirmed by
their Irish experiences, to the native inhabitants of the "New
World." The question of Ireland's subjection to a Tudor
"conquest or a reformation"[3] and the precise sequence and
relative importance of these competing persuasive and coercive
strategies has absorbed Irish historiography. Yet, Lenman
rightly emphasizes the comparable role of "political rapists
hoping to leap from something to nothing by a sudden act of
possessive violence" (p. 122) in fomenting colonial conflict,
both in Ireland (regardless of whatever was the current
officially sanctioned strategy) and in the Atlantic world.[4]

"Internal" Colonialism in Ireland hindered as well as stimulated
British colonial ventures in North America by, for example,
absorbing (lowland) Scots settlement and finance.[5] In all
these respects Ireland belonged to the Atlantic colonial world.
That it suddenly ceased to do so after the final conquest of
Ireland and the Plantation of Ulster might be implied by
Lenman's sudden shift of focus from Ireland after c. 1610. In
fact plantation, or land confiscation from natives, was extended
during the next thirty years. Fear of this colonialist agenda
was at least as important a cause of the 1641 rising as the
three-kingdom crisis of the late 1630s.[6] The genocidal
fantasies of the Cromwellian Richard Lawrence's _Great Case of
Transplantation in Ireland Discussed_ (1655) are worthy of
Edmund Spenser's _A View of the Present State of Ireland_
(1596).[7] These remarks are a comment on the difficulty in
negotiating multiple contexts rather than criticism of Lenman
who, no doubt, faced the problem of keeping his work within
manageable parameters.

Lenman is at pains to debunk any notion that there emerged a
coherent ideology of "Empire" or that this was an important
component of English identity. He repeatedly emphasizes that
works like Hakluyt's _Principal Navigations_ (1589), Ralegh's
_The Discoverie of Guiana_ (1596), or Davies' _Discoverie of the
True Causes Why Ireland Was Never Entirely Subdued_ (1612) were
simply "guides to the author's ambition and self-promotion" (p.
163). The English, he demonstrates, were not enthusiasts for
Empire. The Stuarts relentlessly subordinated colonial
enterprise, especially in Asia, to the exigencies of European
diplomacy, successively appeasing the Spanish/Portuguese--by
accepting their exclusionary claims in the Americas--(pp.
174-5), the Dutch and, later, the French.

Influential members of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) were
worried about the military and naval costs of enforcing high
profits on small volumes in monopolistically controlled markets,
although mercantilist and anglophobic hard-liners like Jan
Pieterzoon Coen were adamant that "we cannot carry on war
without trade or trade without war" (p. 189). News of the
judicial murder of ten East India Company (EIC) factors trading
under the protection of a Dutch fort (some fifteen months after
the event) caused outrage in England.[8] However, James I wanted
Dutch support against Spain and, consequently, the VOC fleet was
allowed to sail unmolested through the English Channel. Charles
I was even worse; his promise was "singularly worthless" (p.
193). Incidentally, most of the time such strongly phrased
judgements are refreshingly direct but, just occasionally, they
are irritatingly simplistic. For example, there was
considerably more to James II's preference for Catholicism than
the supposed fact that it "taught subjects they were dammed if
they resisted their kings" (p. 199). Stuart assertiveness
towards the Dutch in Asia was not, Lenman argues convincingly,
driven by concern for the EIC but by Stuart dislike for the
Dutch. The fateful marriage alliance of William of Orange and
Mary Stuart was driven by short-term opportunism within the
context of unremitting Stuart hostility to the Dutch.

This is emphatically "new" military history; the author is
concerned with the political and ideological context of episodes
of colonial warfare rather than specific clashes or, indeed,
weaponry and tactics. While this conforms to the general remit
of the "Wars in Perspective" series, other titles in this
series, such as John A. Lynn's _Wars of Louis XIV: 1667-1714_
(Longman, 1999), strike what seems (to this unreconstructed
military historian)to be a better balance between so-called
"new" and "old." When Lenman does touch on the latter, as for
example, on the difficulty of stopping the shallow-draught west
Highland galleys ferrying mercenaries between Scotland and
Ireland (p. 114) or his positive revaluation of the Earl of
Essex's 1599 campaign in Ireland (p. 134) his observations are
perceptive. An example of his reticence concerns the 1686-89
Bengal War when the Moghuls defeated the British East India
Company in battle, preventing the company from seizing a port.
Here, Lenman correctly observes in passing that Europeans did
not yet enjoy a "decisive edge" (p. 209) on land over Asian
powers, but he does not develop this important point adequately.
Robert Clive, with a smaller number of European troops and
European trained sepoys was able to smash a Moghul army ten
times larger than his at Plassey (1757).[9] How did the relative
military performance of British and Moghuls diverge so sharply
over the intervening seventy years?

To conclude, Lenman presents a vigorously argued case against
the existence of a coherent imperial ideology as a component of
English identity emphasizing, instead, contingency and the
"erratic impact of war" (p. 287).

Notes

[1]. Steven G. Ellis, _Ireland in the Age of the Tudors
1447-1603_ (Longman, 1998).

[2]. Jane H. Ohlmeyer, "Colonization within Britain and
Ireland," in _The Origins of Empire; British Overseas Enterprise
to the Close of the Seventeenth-Century_, ed. Nicholas Canny,
_Oxford History of the British Empire_, I, 146.

[3]. The phrase is Thomas Cromwell's, cited in Ellis, _Ireland
in the Age of the Tudors_, 145.

[4]. Thomas Smith, in advertising his proposed plantation of the
Ards Peninsula in east Ulster complained of "our law, which
giveth all to the elder brother"; how many of these adventurers
belonged to the "younger son" residuum of discontent?

[5]. Nicholas Canny, "The Origins of Empire," in _The Origins of
Empire_, 12-5.

[6]. Nicholas Canny, "The Attempted Anglicisation of Ireland in
the Seventeenth-Century: An Exemplar of British History," in
_The Political World of Thomas Wentworth Earl of Strafford,
1621-1641_, ed. J.F. Merritt (Cambridge, 1996), 173.

[7]. I can not claim to be competent to judge Lenman's
startingly revisionist thesis that Spenser was not, in fact, the
author. Others have noted the divergence of views with the
_Faerie Queen_ without necessarily reaching this conclusion.
See, for example, Anne Fogarty, "The Colonisation of Language,"
in _Spenser in Ireland_, ed. Patricia Coughlan (Cork, 1989).

[8]. Angus Calder, _Revolutionary Empire: The Rise of the
English-Speaking Empires from the Fifteenth-century to the
1780s_ (Pimlico, 1998), 111. This delay is a reminder of the
extent to which events in Asia were out of phase with European
"real-time" and the consequent difficulty of any closely
centralized control of Asian operations.

[9]. Geoffrey Parker, _Military innovation and the rise of the
West, 1500-1800: The Military Revolution_ (Cambridge, 1988),
135.

Copyright 2001 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the
redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit,
educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the
author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and
H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For other uses
contact the Reviews editorial staff: hbooks[at]mail.h-net.msu.edu.

Forwarded on behalf of...
From: Dr James H. Murphy
jhmurphy[at]indigo.ie

PLease circulate widely...

Society for the Study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland
Tenth Conference

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Irish Revival Reappraised

All Hallows College, Dublin, 28-30 June 2002

The Irish revival had its roots in the 1880s and flourished until the
1920s. As recent studies have suggested there was no single revival but a
welter of movements, some reactionary, others revolutionary, with differing
views on literature, language, culture, economics and politics.
Taking the long view of the Irish nineteenth century which extends to the
early 1920s, this tenth conference of the Society for the Study of
Nineteenth-Century Ireland welcomes contributions from a wide variety of
disciplines and especially interdisciplinary approaches to a reappraisal of
the Irish revival. While not neglecting the great figures or key texts of
the age, special emphasis will be placed on the social, economic and
political contexts, such as journalism, theatre and the arts, politics,
education, religion and business, which informed the intelligentsias of the
period, and contributed to the emergence of movements as diverse as the
Gaelic League, the Anglo-Irish literary renaissance, the co-operative
movement and Sinn Féin.

Conference Organisers: James H. Murphy and Elizabeth Ann Taylor-FitzSimon

Please submit proposals for papers (c. 200 words) by 10 December 2001.
The conference will feature the work of both established and emerging
scholars.

All correspondence and enquiries to:
Dr E.A. Taylor-FitzSimon, Dept of English, All Hallows College, Grace Park
Rd, Drumcondra, Dublin 9, Ireland. Tel. +353-(0)1-8373745.Fax
+353-(0)1-8377642. email tayfitz[at]indigo.ie

From: ppo[at]aber.ac.uk
Subject: Tangled Roots

Paddy,

The following looks interesting and might shed fresh light on earlier
discussions relating to the Irish and Blacks in the US.

Best

Paul O'Leary




>From Chronicle of Higher Ed.: Tangled Roots website

>* A WEB SITE developed at Yale University's Gilder Lehrman
> Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition
> looks at similarities in the experiences of Irish-Americans
> and African-Americans. (April 19)
> --> http://chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001041901t.htm
>
>Full text below:
>
>A Web Site Highlights Similar Experiences of Irish and Black Americans
>By JESSICA LUDWIG
>
>Frederick Douglass, the abolitionist, gave a lecture in Cork, Ireland, in
>October of 1845. He found his audience sympathetic to the antislavery
>movement, and he went out of his way to praise an Irish nationalist who
>condemned slaveholding.
>
>Such little-known cultural connections are the focus of Tangled Roots, a
>Web
>site ( http://www.yale.edu/glc/tangledroots/ ) developed at Yale
>University's Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance,
>and
>Abolition. The project talks broadly about similarities in the experiences
>of Irish-Americans and African-Americans.
>
>Two researchers affiliated with the center, MaryAnne Matthews and Thomas
>O'Brien, developed the site. A course Ms. Matthews took on the Irish
>famine,
>along with her own experience as an instructor, led her to develop the
>project: "I taught Irish and black literature, and many of the voices were
>saying similar things."
>
>A sense of shared history continued through the 20th century, says Ms.
>Matthews. She points to the Catholic Irish in North Ireland, many of whom
>identify their struggle with that of the American civil-rights movement.
>
>People of both Irish and black descent suffered persecution in America, the
>former for their religion and the latter for their race. Cartoons that
>appeared in such magazines as Punch and Harper's Weekly in the mid-1800's
>are featured on the site, and illustrate how both groups were considered
>inferior. "What these cartoons demonstrate is that American society as a
>whole had a shared view of African- and Irish-Americans," Ms. Matthews
>says.
>
>In addition to political cartoons, the site contains 200 primary documents,
>including advertisements, court decisions, speeches, and census reports.
>Four timelines -- tracking displacement, oppression, discrimination, and
>acceptance -- visually juxtapose Irish and African histories from the 17th
>century through the 1980's.
>
>The site also includes oral-history interviews done in the last few years
>with Irish and African professors, ministers, and writers. Those
>interviewed
>discuss race in America and how it has affected them.
>
>Tangled Roots, as the name suggests, emphasizes intertwined histories, but
>it does not equate the Irish and African experiences. "None of the work
>we've done would suggest the experience of the Irish in Ireland and America
>was anywhere near the experience of Africans in America," says Ms.
>Matthews.
>What the site looks at, she says, is the groups' "shared history, which
>isn't to suggest they're the same."
>
>She also says the site's documents can be used to explore why the two
>groups
>never became allies. In addition to competition for jobs, she says religion
>was a factor that kept Irish- and African-Americans divided: "Catholics
>were
>isolated in their parochialism. Protestants were most active in abolition."
>
>Since the project's debut, in mid-March, the center's site has received a
>33-percent increase in visits, says Robert P. Forbes, the associate
>director
>of the center. Mr. Forbes says the site offers information for scholars,
>instructors, students, and the general public.
>
>"It's a good start," says Kevin O'Neill, an associate professor of history
>who is director of the Irish Studies program at Boston College, of the
>site.
>In the early 1980's, he and another faculty member developed a course,
>"Black and Green in Boston," that looked at the history and conflict
>between
>the two groups on a local level.
>
>"I'm so happy to see this. When we tried in the pre-Web days, it was
>difficult to get information, and there was some resistance from both
>communities," Mr. O'Neill says.
>
>He notes that the site could offer even more analysis of how the two groups
>saw both themselves and each another. "By focusing on how outsiders view
>the
>groups, you move the focus away from how the groups view themselves," he
>says. "By definition, they were set up to be competitors for the very same
>space in society."
>
>Mr. O'Neill notes that links between the two cultures can also be drawn in
>music, dance, and literature, and in a comparison of the Harlem and Irish
>literary renaissances.
>
>http://www.yale.edu/glc/tangledroots/
>
>
>
Dr Paul O'Leary
Adran Hanes a Hanes Cymru / Dept of History and Welsh History
Prifysgol Cymru Aberystwyth / University of Wales Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion SY23 3DY

Tel: 01970 622842
Fax: 01970 622676

Forwarded on behalf of the
Boston Irish Tourism Association

Irish scholar James Donnelly, Professor of History at the University of
Wisconsin, past president of the ACIS, and Senior editor of Eire-Ireland,
will talk about his new book, The Great Irish Potato Famine, on Tuesday, May
22, 2001, at 4:00 p.m. at Boston College. The event takes place at the
Connolly House, 300 Hammond Street, Chestnut Hill.
For additional information contact the Irish Studies Department at 617
552-3938

For more information on Irish cultural activities throughout Massachusetts,
please visit www.irishmassachusetts.com.

Boston Irish Tourism Association

Review
Date: Wed 16 May 2001 22:00:00 +0000
From: irish-diaspora[at]bradford.ac.uk
Reply-To: irish-diaspora[at]bradford.ac.uk
To: irish-diaspora[at]bradford.ac.uk
Sender: owner-irish-diaspora[at]bradford.ac.uk
Precedence: bulk


Forwarded for information...

H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-Albion[at]h-net.msu.edu (May, 2001)

Stephen Conway. _The British Isles and the War of American
Independence_. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2000. xii + 407 pp. Tables, maps, bibliography, and index.
$90.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-19-820659-3.

Reviewed for H-Albion by Carla H. Hay,
, Department of History, Marquette
University

The War at Home

Stephen Conway's monograph provides both a comprehensive
analysis of the impact of the "War of American Independence" on
the British Isles and a succinct assessment of recent
historiography on the period. Agreeing with the "increasingly
well-established case against the traditional, ?limited war'
view of eighteenth-century armed struggles" (p. 5) made by
historians Jeremy Black, John Childs, and others, Conway
demonstrates that the impression conveyed by diaries and
correspondence that the American war had "minimal impact on the
texture and structures of everyday life in the British Isles"
(p. 85) is misleading. Utilizing case studies of six localities
(the small towns of Brentwood in Essex, Lichfield in
Straffordshire, and Strabane in County Tyrone; the medium-sized
east coast port of Hull; Glasgow, the "great Scottish entrepôt"
(p. 10); and the largely rural county of Berkshire) Conway
effectively highlights regional variations in the war's impact
and in the responses of contemporaries, proving that the war was
in fact a "dynamic process impinging on many aspects of life"
(p. 6). It both promoted and reflected the eighteenth-century
development of the "fiscal-military state" analyzed by John
Brewer. Yet simultaneously, responses to the war manifested the
"vigorous localism" which Paul Langford and J.E. Cookson rightly
identify as "important counters to central authority" and
"national consciousness" (p. 5). Once the war widened into a
contest with Catholic France and a coalition of continental
adversaries, it contributed to the "forging of the nation," as
Linda Colley has noted. But the war also heightened religious
and political divisions within Britain. In short, the war's
effects were "multifarious and profound" (p. 6).

"Central to the British experience in the war" (p. 11) was the
mobilization of manpower for the army and navy. Conway
estimates that one man out of seven or eight served in the war
at some point. Moreover, both officers and recruits came from a
"bewildering variety of backgrounds" (p. 32), ensuring that the
war would have a pervasive impact on the local community but
also promote a sense of Britishness by mingling men from various
regions. Ships were "ethnic melting pots" and the army was a
"hothouse of Britishness" (p. 187). Military encampments could
both enliven and disrupt the local social scene. An enhanced
military presence might account for the apparent decline in
crime rates, but militiamen themselves often perpetrated
violence on property and persons, especially women.

The economic impact of the war was similarly paradoxical.
Military recruiting disrupted local labor markets but provided
employment opportunities for women and "spectacular" (p. 73) pay
increases for seamen who escaped impressment. Reductions in the
poor rate resulting from the recruitment of the able-bodied
unemployed might be offset by the need to provide for the
dependents of recruits. Increased government borrowing diverted
monies from other investments such as enclosure, but
expenditures on food, clothing, and munitions for the military
stimulated the local economy and offset reductions in overseas
commerce. On the other hand, a boom in the construction trade
early in the war collapsed as the government increased taxes to
finance the escalating conflict. Even though the war caused
"enormous turmoil," Conway concludes that it had "much less of
an impact on the vitality of the economy than might be expected"
(p. 84).

Conway's abbreviated, yet wide-ranging discussion of the social
and cultural dimensions of the war is suggestive, if overly
ambitious. To his credit, Conway cautions against exaggerating
the trends he highlights in his effort to demonstrate the war's
pervasive impact. Military motifs in fashion, literature,
theater, and the visual arts clearly manifest the war's
influence. Other consequences are less easily proven. Conway
relies on a variety of secondary sources to make his case.
Notwithstanding the "absence of direct testimony from those
involved" (p. 87), Conway believes that "there are some grounds
for thinking that the war might have enhanced the status of
women" (p. 86). He highlights "some interesting indications of
a new assertiveness" among "women of a higher social standing"
(p. 87). He also maintains that the war accelerated social
mobility. Losers included those bankrupted, widowed, or
deserted because of the conflict. Privateers, government
contractors, and officers promoted more quickly through the
ranks were beneficiaries of the conflict which "witnessed a
growing confidence among the ?middling sort'" manifested in
"claims to recognition" and a "more critical attitude towards
the traditional landed elite" (p. 102). Friction also increased
between "entrepreneurs of the ?middling sort' and their labour
forces" (p. 104). Conway further credits the war with creating
an environment that facilitated the efforts of social activists
promoting such diverse causes as abolition of the slave trade
and reform of the penal system and poor laws.

In discussing the political impact of the war, Conway
effectively draws on the work of Kathleen Wilson, John
Sainsbury, and especially James Bradley whose analysis of
petitions and loyal addresses suggests that from the war's onset
there were "deep divisions over the justice and necessity of the
conflict" (p. 131). Support for the war was strongest in
Scotland, but generated little excitement in Wales. Irish
Protestants tended to be critical of the enterprise while Irish
Catholics, having no reason to sympathize with often rabidly
anti-Catholic Americans, saw the war as an opportunity to
demonstrate their loyalty. Pre-existing local rivalries and
ongoing political divisions were often factored into English
responses to ministerial wartime policy. Bradley notes that a
significant number of peace petitioners had supported John
Wilkes. His research also demonstrates that in boroughs the
strongest support for coercion came from elites while artisans
and shopkeepers constituted a majority of those favoring
concessions to the colonists. A significant number of rural
elites opposed the war from its onset. Protestant Dissenters
largely opposed the conflict. Anglican clergy supported the
government, but Anglican laymen were more evenly divided.
Quakers were neutral. Conway observes that the war "curbed the
pretensions of the British Parliament, increased the autonomy of
the Irish Parliament" (p. 239), and transformed the drive for
parliamentary reform into a "mainstream issue" (p. 219). The
eventual loss of the American colonies "accentuated a process of
change in the nature of the empire" (p. 315). The "old idea of
the British empire as an empire of liberty" was eventually
"supplanted by a new and more authoritarian version of empire"
(p. 316).

Conway's persuasive and highly informative discussion will prove
useful both to specialists and the general reader.

Copyright 2001 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the
redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit,
educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the
author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and
H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For other uses
contact the Reviews editorial staff: hbooks[at]mail.h-net.msu.edu.