Guinness’s St James’s Gate Brewery is synonymous with the city and people of Dublin. From the company’s modest beginnings in 1759 to its heyday in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and its continued strength into the twenty-first century, Guinness has had an enormous influence over the city’s economic, social and cultural life. In The Goodness of Guinness, which features numerous illustrations, Tony Corcoran examines the magnitude of the brewery’s operation and the working lives of the thousands of Dubliners who depended on Guinness for their livelihood. Guinness’s extremely progressive treatment of its workers – in terms of health, training and housing – is discussed in detail, as is the Guinness family’s philanthropy and compassion towards the less-well-off residents of the city. Above all, the book is full of Guinness lore, humour and insight: it is a window into one of Dublin’s most important and best-loved institutions.
