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The End of the Irish Poor Law? Welfare and healthcare reform in revolutionary and independent Ireland

which continued long afterwards’ (110). Regarding gender, although he observes both a small growth in Church of England female confirmands and a decline in the practise of churching, he asserts ‘In all other respects, the greater religiosity of women over men seems to have been much as it had been for decades (arguably centuries) previously’ (109). Various specific aspects of the study stand out. One is the claim that a gender breakdown of various local studies on church attendance suggests that despite a female majority, actually two per cent fewer women attended church compared to inter-war censuses (53). Another is the apparent various signs of stress on some of the foundations of British religiosity. For Field, ‘A counter-culture was clearly emerging in the 1950s’ (106–107), perhaps evident in views on divorce laws and growing public support for liberalization of Sunday observance. Furthermore, ‘a diminution in religious socialization’ (107) was perceptible: despite a brief recovery in Sunday School attendance in the early 1950s, by 1963 Sunday school scholars in the five main English and Welsh Free Churches had fallen by thirty-three per cent from 1945; while some polling appeared to show ‘increasing sensitivity to children’s wishes’ (37). These are developments which seem significant for later decades. Brown’s own arguments, as Field recognizes, rest in part on qualitative evidence. There are perhaps limits to the extent to which this quantitative approach can engage Brown’s contentions concerning discursive Christianity and the significance of gender. However, the breadth of data included, and Field’s authoritative and careful command of it, results in an excellent contribution that will continue the debate about religious change both in the 1950s and more generally. The book is published as a Palgrave Pivot, is 140 pages long and readable in one long sitting. Each chapter has its own abstract and keywords. The compactness may leave the reader wondering how certain aspects might have been expanded upon; however, overall this book is to be highly recommended.