New Labour History book to be launched tonight

national | history and heritage | event notice Wednesday May 21, 2008 11:24 by labour history buff

A new collection of essays on Irish labour history - edited by Francis Devine, Fintan Lane and Niamh Puirseil - will be launched Liberty Hall, Dublin, tonight. The event, which will be addressed by Des Geraghy, is open to all with an interest in labour history.

The reception takes place at 7pm, Weds, 21 May (i.e. tonight) in Liberty Hall.

Essays in Irish Labour History is a tribute to the late Professor John W Boyle, University of Guelph, Canada and a leading practitioner of Irish labour history, and his late wife Elizabeth.

Boyle's specialism was in nineteenth century labour history, with a particular emphasis on Dublin and Belfast, cities to which he had academic and personal attachments, and these interests are well reflected in this book. The history of labour in Ulster is especially well covered, as is that of Protestant workers throughout the island. The collection also includes substantial scholarly articles that reflect ongoing research and areas that have thus far been neglected, such as time-work discipline in nineteenth century Ireland and the impact of religion on the Irish Labour Party, 1922-73. The range of topics is broad and includes an obituary essay on the Boyles and an interrogation of Irish historiography and the working class.

Contributors include Niamh Puirseil, Fintan Lane, Emmet O'Connor, John Cunningham, Henry Patterson, Brian Hanley and many others.