Dr. Robin Adams (DPhil, Oxford) is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in Economic History at Queen's University Belfast. His research interests include the careers of business elites and, separately, the economic history of modern Ireland.
His book, Shadow of a Taxman: Who Funded the Irish Revolution? (Oxford University Press, 2022), provides a comprehensive study of the funding of the republican government in the Irish War of Independence and explores the identities of thousands of ordinary men and women who supported Irish independence on the eve of its realization. The book also highlights the indispensable role of the diaspora in determining the outcome of the Irish War of Independence, particularly the diaspora in America.
The thesis on which his book was based won the 2020 Thirsk-Feinstein Dissertation Prize from the Economic History Society, as well as 2020 Alexander Gerschenkron Prize, awarded to the best dissertation in non-US or Canadian economic history by the Economic History Association.
His talk is titled "Who Funded the Irish Revolution (1919-21)?" and will be the USA book launch for Shadow of a Taxman.