Tells the absorbing story of post-famine Donegal, the Molly Maguires -- a secret society who had set themselves up against the exploitation of the rural poor -- and Patrick McGlynn -- an avaricious schoolmaster who turned informer on them, availing of hunger, disease, debt, hardship, and death to expand his holding at the expense of his neighbours.
[a] remarkable book ... Mac Suibhne's forensic interrogation of local 'memory' - scrupulously avoiding verdicts, vindications or sentimentality - is a masterclass in assessing an extraordinary range of historical sources in both vernaculars, Irish and English. This is an exceptional work of scholarship and historical reconstruction. Rich in evidence, conceptually sharp and challenging, and beautifully written, it will be compulsory reading for all students of
modern Ireland for a long time to come.
