How has Irish nature been studied? How has it been expressed in literature and popular culture? How has it influenced, and been influenced by, political, economic, and social change? These long-neglected questions are pursued in Nature in Ireland, a pioneering collection of original essays by leading naturalists, science writers, and cultural historians who bring us from the geological prehistory of Ireland to the environmental threats of the late twentieth century.

The Great Famine of 1845-9 remains the great climacteric in Irish history. This title contains the Fifth and final volume of reprints of contemporary works relating to the Great Famine, including writings on the medical conditions in Ireland at the time gathered from the "Dublin Journal of Medical Science" and similar publications.