Letters of the Catholic Poor: Poverty in Independent Ireland, 1920–1940 - Softcover

Earner-Byrne, Lindsey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 131663180X ISBN 13: 9781316631805

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2019

Synopsis

This innovative study of poverty in Independent Ireland between 1920 and 1940 is the first to place the poor at its core by exploring their own words and letters. Written to the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, their correspondence represents one of the few traces in history of Irish experiences of poverty, and collectively they illuminate the lives of so many during the foundation decades of the Irish state. This book keeps the human element central, so often lost when the framework of history is policy, institutions and legislation. It explores how ideas of charity, faith, gender, character and social status were deployed in these poverty narratives and examines the impact of poverty on the lives of these writers and the survival strategies they employed. Finally, it considers the role of priests in vetting and vouching for the poor and, in so doing, perpetuating the discriminating culture of charity.

About this title

About the Author

Lindsey Earner-Byrne is a lecturer in modern Irish history in the School of History at University College Dublin and a member of the Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland. She has researched and published on gender, health and welfare in modern Ireland with a focus on mothers, widows and children.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 131663180X
• ISBN 13: 9781316631805
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296