Disturbed Ireland

Becker, a renown nineteenth century journalist, journeys through Mayo, Galway, Clare, Limerick, Cork, and Kerry, during 1880, reporting the Land War. We hear of the places he visited and the people he met, including Captain Boycott. Members of the landed gentry and military are depicted as struggling to cope with the ostracism of the local populations of Westport, Castlebar, Ballinrobe, Connemara, Ennis, and Gortatlee, Tralee, Killarney and Valencia.

The locals are depicted as lively, courteous and impenetrable as they close ranks against a system, which is driving them from the land. His analysis is often sympathetic to the unkempt native Irish, but ultimately he retires within the boycotted boundaries of the country houses.

These pages give us portraits of the actual people in actual places, as well as a sense of the majesty of the land they struggled over.

Clachan editors have edited the text carefully, updating symbols, spelling and punctuation. We have also provided scholarly footnotes.