Maps & Texts: Exploring the Irish Historic Towns Atlas makes historical comparisons to discover what is unique about Irish towns and what is generic. The book considers various categories of urban life, how Irish towns interacted and changed over time, and why that might be so. Based on the 25 published volumes from the Irish Historic Town Atlas series that are currently available - along with the three annual seminars that examined their contents - this book broadens the ways in which historic town atlases might be used, and it considers morphology as a social process in the making of urban Ireland. In this way, it grapples with what Estyn Evans described, in another context, as the question of 'personality.' The book includes 20 individual essays that offer readers different perspectives on urban life in Ireland. First, pairs of comparable towns (and in one case, three towns) are explored, including: Armagh and Kells; Kilkenny and Limerick; Kildare and Tuam; Ennis and Longford; Belfast and Derry-Londonderry; and Athlone, Longford, and Mullingar. Aspects of urban life, such as religion, manufacturing, and education, are the focus. Finally, three critiques offer a broader view into various approaches and tools for understanding towns and their history, shape, and diversity. The book is colorfully illustrated with over 90 maps, reconstructions, views, and photographs.