A New History of Ireland is the largest scholarly project in modern Irish history. In 9 volumes, it provides a comprehensive new synthesis of modern scholarship on every aspect of Irish history and prehistory, from the earliest geological and archaeological evidence, through the Middle Ages, down to the present day.

Volume V opens with a character study of the period, followed by twenty chapters of narrative history, covering sectarian conflict, politics of the era and the impact of the Great Famine. Further thematic chapters examine emigration, the economy, legal developments, literature, and education, ending with a study of Ireland in 1870.