Waterford

The Irish Revolution, 1912–23

Patrick McCarthy

‘[McCarthy] gives a commanding and comprehensive account of the political, social and economic history of the county’, Peter Mulready, Irish Sword (Winter 2015).

‘Pat McCarthy offers an impressively comprehensive picture, with chapters on a scene-setting cross-section of Waterford’s economy and society in 1912, the impact of war and rebellion, the rise of Sinn Féin, the War of Independence, the Anglo-Irish treaty, the Civil War, and the sum of it all as the dust settled on the Free State in 1923’, Emmet O'Connor, Saothar (2016).

‘[This is] the first comprehensive published work on Waterford during this period of Irish history … McCarthy’s skill as a researcher and as an exceptional narrator, allows the reader with little or no local knowledge of the city or county of Waterford to understand and appreciate the complexities of the communal conflicts and political allegiances and alliances in Waterford city and county during the period. This aspect of this work is of enormous value to the local historian trying to unravel and drill down through, what was until now, a largely “folk-memory” narrative of this period in Waterford’s long history … This wide-ranging study offers fascinating new perspectives on Waterford during the Irish Revolution. McCarthy provides some very interesting photographs, informative maps indicating the areas of action during the War of Independence and finally, an exceptionally useful bibliography’, Michael Merrigan, Ireland's Genealogical Gazette (May 2015). 

‘A fine addition to a growing list of studies on Irish counties during the extraordinary decade up to the end of the civil war … in this book’s best chapter, the writer’s interest in military matters comes to the fore in a very exciting and insightful account of Waterford’s experience of what was a kind of collective mental and moral breakdown … This book begins with a masterful summary of the state of things in the county in 1912 and concludes with a valuable overview of 1923 … [it] has useful maps, a good index, interesting photographs … Easy to read and with a cast of interesting characters’, Denis G. Marnane, Tipperary Historical Journal (2015).

‘Especially useful because it [Waterford] has not been the subject of such a previous study … The book is handsomely produced, with attractive illustrations and maps. It succeeds as a local history in identifying discrete regional influences as well as identifying the impact locally of national events … Overall, it is a concise overview of events in Waterford that will also serve as a launch pad for more detailed studies of particular aspects of the county’s experience of Ireland’s revolutionary years’, Marie Coleman, Irish Literary Supplement (Spring 2017).

‘McCarthy focuses on the revolution’s impact on the county … he avoids a narrow Waterford-centric bias, and weaves seamlessly between tangential phenomena and back to action within the city and county in creating Waterford’s story … McCarthy highlights Waterford’s contribution to the period … [this] is an important addition not only to county studies of the Revolution, but to the historiography of the period as a whole. McCarthy’s thoughtful contributions to the debates du jour and fresh methodological perspective construct a volume worthy of a place in any historian of Ireland’s library’, Gabrielle Machnik-Kékesi, Canadian Journal of Irish Studies (2016).