The 'Mere Irish' and the Colonisation of Ulster, 1570-1641 [Hardcover]

This book examines the native Irish experience of conquest and colonisation in Ulster in the first decades of the seventeenth century. Central to this argument is that the Ulster plantation bears more comparisons to European expansion throughout the Atlantic than (as some historians have argued) the early-modern states consolidation of control over its peripheral territories. Farrell also demonstrates that plantation Ulster did not see any significant attempt to transform the Irish culturally or economically in these years, notwithstanding the rhetoric of a civilising mission. Challenging recent scholarship on the integrative aspects of plantation society, he argues that this emphasis obscures the antagonism which characterised relations between native and newcomer until the eve of the 1641 rising. This book is of interest not only to students of early-modern Ireland but is also a valuable contribution to the burgeoning field of Atlantic history and indeed colonial studies in general.

This is an impressive and satisfying book. & Farrells approach has been inspired by American scholars who have shown an interest in and sensitivity to the Indian side of native-colonist encounters in North America. & He highlights many interesting parallels between the interactions between the English colonists and the native peoples of Virginia, New England and