The Irish Land War of 1879–82 demonstrated how agrarian dissension permeated nineteenth-century Irish rural society and eventually played a role in the demise of the Protestant Ascendancy. The agrarian strife was exacerbated by an economic downturn, and poor tenants employed violence and rent strikes to achieve concessions from their landlords and, eventually, the British government. The rise of constitutional nationalist politics followed, manifest in the electoral success of Parnellites by the middle of the 1880s. Fenianism, it appeared, was moribund, and Irish politics, particularly the greater involvement of small and middling farmers in the political economy, established the rise of the middle class in a relatively prosperous postfamine Ireland. Historians have typically examined this period through national constructs, exploring the tensions between radical and moderate nationalists, landlords and tenants, as well as the competing classes. Donnacha Seán Lucey, mindful of the national literature, surveys County Kerry, one of the most politically dynamic areas of the country, and effectively compares this regional history with the national narrative.

Lucey discovered that the Irish narrative and the Kerry narrative were not always similar, demonstrating that the national narrative was not applicable to all parts of Ireland. Lucey discovered in Kerry a region where violence and Fenianism still influenced politics and where nationalism remained fractured over issues of status, generation, class, and ideology. Agrarian violence and the Irish Republican Brotherhood remained significant and sometimes overlapped with a secret society known as Moonlighters, a descendant of groups like the Ribbonmen and Whiteboys. Moonlighters, however, tended to be steeped in a cultural tradition rather than being a product of contemporary popular politics, since most of the violence was due to personal rather than class or ideological conflict.

In particular, Lucey attempts to poke holes in or provide greater nuance to previous theses and add to other local studies such as Donald Jordan's examination of Mayo, J. S. Donnelly's work on Cork, and Frank Thompson's study of Ulster. For example, Joseph Lee has argued that the role of social frustrations of young men in Kerry played a major part in agrarian violence during this period. Michael Beames has asserted that Whiteboyism and agrarian outrages were a product of class division. While Lucey agrees that delayed marriage and the lack of economic opportunities played a role, he maintains that “those higher up the social stratum” were also “engaged in agrarian violence in Kerry during the early 1880s” (112). In general, Lucey mostly attributes the outrages to landlord domination but also credits them to Land League rhetoric intermixed with personal, social, and economic conflicts that were influenced by Fenian ideals. Furthermore, the analysis maintains that violence was supported, if not fully endorsed, by the rural populations. In the end, the restraint of Parnellites and the Catholic Church was not enough to defuse the influence of radicals like the Moonlighters.

Lucey's focus on the generation gap, which mirrors Peter Hart's study of the Irish Republican Army during the period of 1916–23, is perhaps his greatest contribution to the historiography of nineteenth-century Irish history. The despair, the lack of access to the market economy, and the use of Irish folk culture allowed young Irish males in Kerry to form a radical subculture that also reflected nationalist aspirations of both the Land League and the National League. Although moderate nationalists outwardly opposed agrarian violence, they also used the violence, or at least the threat of violence, to further their goals. The involvement of some middle-class figures in Moonlighting activities demonstrates that class fragmentation among the Irish people was not as prevalent as historians such as Paul Bew have espoused. In fact, Lucey argues that the violence was not typically perpetuated to protect the agrarian lower classes but, rather, to protect middle-class farmers in their disputes with landlords. In other words, antilandlordism was the greatest motivation for such outrages.

Lucey should be commended for this work on Kerry. It is well researched, well thought out, and a nuanced study that elucidates much about the period and region. Heavily reliant on local contemporary newspapers, it also incorporates estate and family papers, as well as government documents, to make its arguments. Lucey knows the secondary literature and places this study in its historical context. This is a work I would highly recommend to scholars and students of Irish studies, as Lucey demonstrates the importance of regional uniqueness and calls into question which was more important in Ireland, local or national issues. In many ways, this is an exceptional political history from the bottom up. The author is also adept at incorporating the historiography at both a national and a local level, and the use of the primary sources to incorporate quantitative data is commendable. This is a very impressive work of scholarship that reminds us that the national narrative is sometimes too simplistic and not always accurate. Similar to what Peter Hart has accomplished with his work on the Irish Republican Army during the War for Independence, Lucey hopes that other historians will incorporate his study of Kerry to develop a fuller picture and provide a more accurate and in-depth national narrative.