Desmond Keenan 
The Social History of Ireland 
Including the Seamy Side

This book is a companion book to The Real History of Ireland Warts and All. It deals systematically with the social and economic aspects of Ireland from the earliest days until 1921. Many books with regard to the history of Ireland suffer to a greater or lesser degree of political or ideological distortion. It was always the authors aim to get at the actual facts of Irish history and to paint a picture with warts and all. Events are placed in their historical context, and not in the context of later political propaganda.

About the author

The author was born in Northern Ireland and studied economics and sociology at the Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland. He completed a doctoral thesis on the Catholic Church in Ireland in the early nineteenth century. During postdoctoral research in the British Newspaper Library in London (UK), he came to realise how badly political propaganda had distorted the writing of Irish history. In his books, he uses frameworks from archaeology, sociology, and economics to arrive at a balanced and neutral perspective.