The Shadow of a Year

Starred review from March 1, 2013

Irish historian Gibney (Ireland and the Popish Plot) has written a scholarly but very readable work on the history of the use and abuse by historians and writers of the Irish conflict of 1641. The titular year is notable in Irish history for the violence perpetrated then by Anglo- and native Irish against newer Scottish and English settlers, often described in terms of native against invader or Catholic against Protestant. Gibney works hard to show that the narrative is in fact more complicated as he takes readers through a detailed analysis of the histories of the event. He reads his subject material closely--from English, Irish, Catholic, and Protestant authors over four centuries--to pick apart the assumptions made about 1641 and the uses to which histories of the event were put in the ongoing Irish political conflict. VERDICT Gibney's work is deeply researched, well documented, and extremely well written. It will be a valuable resource for lay readers, scholars, and students. Shadow complements the work of scholars such as Joep Leerssen, Thomas Garvin, and Terry Eagleton in terms of properly complicating Irish historiography. Highly recommended.--Hanna Clutterbuck, Countway Lib., Harvard Univ.

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