This book traces the economic, social, and cultural history of Ireland from the 1870s to 1914, when the prospect of partition moved from being almost unthinkable to being almost inevitable. After the defeat of the first Home Rule Bill in 1886, the approach of the Conservative Party during their 20 years of government was a policy of 'killing Home Rule by kindness.' Parnell's death in 1891 and the defeat of the second Home Rule Bill marked the end, for the time being, of militant nationalism. Essays and a document-based case study provide an account of the various self-government plans, place them in context, and examine the government's motives for putting the schemes forward. The Home Rule crisis also helped bring about an intensification of Irish nationalism, which identified itself with Catholicism and Gaelic culture. This is further explored in the case study on the GAA. A third study explores the Dublin lockout (1913).