3.0 out of 5 stars
Curious, Nov 11 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The People with No Name: Ireland's Ulster Scots, America's Scots Irish, and the Creation of a British Atlantic World, 1689-1764 (Paperback)
The first question I asked myself prior to reading the book was: "How will this book be different than Leyburn's book on the same subject, written in the 60s?" Not much. Given the number of studies, articles, etc covering this very topic it would have been valuable for griffin to have included a bibliographical essay to outline how his study breaks new ground. Still, Griffin does a thorough job outlining why the Protestant Dissenters left Ulster for the shores of America. However, his title "People With No Name" is curious, as these folks had several names (Ulster Scots, Presbyterians, Scots Irish, Dissenters) all of which Griffin acknowledges. It was also dissapointing to see a dissertation/book once again ignore Catholic migrants to America from Ireland. Catholics in Ireland are only mentioned on 7 of this book's 173 pages. No comparison is made between Griffin's Ulster Scots (or whatever he decides to call them) and their Catholic neighbors who surely underwent the same economic, agricultural, etc. trials in the 18th century.
Finally, on the back cover of the paperback, there is extremely high praise for the book from T. H. Breen, professor of history at Northwestern Univ. He calls the book "masterful," etc. Seeing how Breen was Griffin's Ph.D. dissertation advisor and presumably had a guiding role in the writing of this study, such praise seems out of place and distateful; Breen should have had the taste and sense of manners to skip the submission such a "blub" on the back cover.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
