Welsh Journals

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O'r un wasg, daeth dau lyfr arall, sef HANES LLWYNRHYDOWEN gan Aubrey J. Martin, 1977 ISBN o 85088 434 9. Tud. 130. Lluniau £ 1. a GWILYM MARLES gan Nansi Martin 1979. ISBN o 85088 971 5. Tud. 120. Lluniau £ 2 Dyma hanes manwl un o eglwysi'r Undodiaid, ynghyd a chofiant i'r gwr a ym- laddodd yn ddewr "dros ryddid a phob daioni dyn". D.M.J. EXPLORATIONS AND EXPLANATIONS ESSAYS IN THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF VICTORIAN WALES by Ieuan Gwynedd Jones. Llandysul Gwasg Gomer, 1981. ISBN o 85088 644 9. Pp 338. £ 9.75. This book containing eight essays by the Sir John Williams Professor of Welsh History at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, is a major contribution to the study of the social, religious and political history of Wales during the mid-19th century. The author is well known to members of the Society as a most valuable member of the Executive Committee and editor of the proposed County History of Ceredigion, and not least as a stimulating lecturer. Although each essay provides us with a penetrating reappraisal of a well known theme relating to a specific locale, together they furnish us with a radical insight into the conditions and forces which generated the creative radicalism that character- ised the late Victorian period. The essays are interrelated inasmuch as each in turn explores and explains in detail a dynamic feature of Welsh society in the two decades or so after 1850. The book is divided into three parts as follows (1) Religion, which deals with Denominationalism in Caernarfonshire' and Denominationalism in Swansea and District'; (2) Politics, which covers Mer- ioneth Politics in Mid-Nineteenth Century', Cardiganshire Politics in Mid- Nineteenth Century', and The Election of 1868 in Merthyr Tydvil (3) Ex- planation, which discusses Religion and Society', The Liberation Society and Welsh Politics and The Dynamics of Welsh Politics Each study is illuminated by perceptive commentary as when the author reveals the structure of the agricultural society in Merionethshire (p 94 seg.) wherein the pressure of population on available resources must have been acute, the alternative to marriage late in life and relative security was probably, for the sons of farmers, early marriage and the insecurity of the agricultural labourer. Or emigration ?' The very detailed, critical analysis and evaluation of primary and secondary sources (each study is heavily documented) are very welcome features of Explorations and Explanations which help to clarify and occasionally to destroy some of the trad- itional beliefs which have clouded our true understanding of this period in our history. Students of the history of modern Wales are deeply indebted to Professor Ieuan Gwynedd Jones for the immense work which these studies have entailed and for making them so conveniently available. DAVID JENKINS