Civilising rural Ireland

<p>The introduction of co-operative societies into the Irish countryside during the late-nineteenth century transformed rural society and created an enduring economic legacy. <i>Civilising rural Ireland </i>challenges predominant narratives of Irish history that explain the emergence of the nation-state through the lens of political conflict and violence. Instead the book takes as its focus the numerous leaders organisers and members of the Irish co-operative movement. Together these people captured the spirit of change as they created a modern Ireland through their reorganisation of the countryside the spread of new economic ideas and the promotion of mutually-owned businesses. Besides giving a comprehensive account of the co-operative movement's introduction to Irish society the book offers an analysis of the importance of these radical economic ideas upon political Irish nationalism.<br><br>An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.</p>