Synopses & Reviews
In this seminal work, Terence Brown examines, with grace and wit, the most eventful century in Irish history. The post-Treaty period in Ireland has been an era of intense debate about the nature and future of Irish society and culture. In a state born in violence and divided by bitter quarrels, wars both literal and cultural have raged over what it means to be Irishand what it is possible for Ireland to achieve. Professor Brown traces the development of modern Ireland through nationalism, industrialism, religion, language revival, and censorship combined with an assessment of the major literary and artistic advances accomplished in this climate. Now updated for the new millennium, this is a classic study of an emergent nation.
Synopsis
The seminal history of Ireland s most unusual century, thoroughly updated for the new millennium.
With its starting point the bloody creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, Ireland: A Social and Cultural History explores how Irish identity has shifted across eighty years of unprecedented change and violence. What was the legacy of De Valera and Sinn Fein or of remaining neutral during the Second World War? What were the effects of the establishment of a formally recognised Republic of Ireland in 1949 and thus the continued status of Northern Ireland as part of Great Britain? How has the state of virtual civil war that has existed between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland ever since altered the course of Irish history?
Terence Brown evokes all the turbulent (and often confusing) events of the last century and makes sense of them, showing with skill and wit just how Irish culture escaped from W B Yeats' backward-looking Celtic Twilight towards modernity. Ireland: A Social and Cultural History is a fascinating work of synthesis and an unforgettable book."