Economy, Trade and Irish Merchants at Home and Abroad, 1600–1988, by L.M. Cullen

Abstract

In a writing career that began in the 1950s, Louis Cullen has established himself as the pre-eminent historian of the Irish economy during the past five centuries. From the earliest explorations, his work has been characterised by a formidable knowledge of the sources, a willingness to question orthodoxies, and to pose awkward questions. His multifarious studies are characterised by unusual sensitivity to the variations within Ireland arising from ecology and patterns of settlement. As well as focusing on the particular and local, he has been keen to compare Irish experiences with those in Britain and continental Europe. These comparisons, far from being superficial window-dressing, are sustained by a remarkable familiarity with primary evidence relating to Scotland, England and provincial France. In addition, he understands economic theories. The publishers have gathered together in the present book miscellaneous papers which have either been published in scattered and sometimes inaccessible collections, or not published at all. Inevitably, some of the pieces address matters that Cullen has dealt with more expansively in his books, starting with Anglo-Irish Trade, 1660–1800 (1968; rev. ante, lxxxv [1970], 613–14), or in his most celebrated papers, such as ‘Irish History Without the Potato’ (Past and Present, also 1968). Written over a period of more than half a century, they have not been updated for this collection, so inconsistencies and repetitions do occur. Light editing of the texts has drawbacks; proof-reading is occasionally lax. However, any such blemishes are more than offset by the convenience and richness of the collection. Its range and stimulus excite only admiration. Some articles tackle large and contentious issues, such as the size of Ireland’s population and its rate of growth, the impact of government policies on Irish economic performance, and the causes and effects of the mid-nineteenth-century famine.