Great Irish Reportage


Book Description

Reports and dispatches from Ireland's finest writers: the first-ever anthology of Irish reportage. Alongside its world-famous tradition of great fiction, Ireland has a less well known but thrilling tradition of reportage: journalism, dispatches and eyewitness accounts. From Elizabeth Bowen to Colm Toibin, from Flann O'Brien to Maeve Binchy, some of Ireland's greatest writers have produced first-rate journalism. And from R.M. Smyllie and Conor Cruise O'Brien to Eamon Dunphy and Olivia O'Leary, Ireland has also produced a remarkable number of journalists who can really write. Now, for the first time, the best of Irish reportage - some of it legendary, some of it unjustly forgotten - is gathered into a single volume. Whether it's Kate O'Brien on the reinterment of W.B. Yeats or Emily O'Reilly on the election to Westminster of Gerry Adams, whether it's Hubert Butler on the Fetherd-on-Sea boycott or Joseph O'Connor at the 1994 World Cup, the pieces in Great Irish Reportage illuminate Irish life in a way that no other form of writing can. 'There is so much to admire and digest between the covers ... All of them put you right there, right on the frontline, right in the moment' RTE Guide 'You'll learn much about this great little nation of ours, and what makes it tick, from this incredibly well chosen collection' Hot Press 'There are superb examples of reportage here that combine hard fact and descriptive narrative' Irish Times 'Excellent ... In such time, the need for brave individuals to believe in the power of the words they write is essential. Despite changes in the media landscape in recent years ... it appears as if that hunger from journalists, to question, inspire, and hold those who we democratically elect to accountability, is as strong as ever' Sunday Independent 'Probably unbeatable for showing how Ireland has changed ... The editor has done a remarkable job' Irish Catholic




Irish adventures in nation-building


Book Description

Irish Adventures in Nation-building consists of eighteen mostly-chronological essays examining the debates and processes that have shaped the modernisation of Ireland since the beginning of the twentieth century. The vantage points examined include those of prominent revolutionaries, cultural nationalists, clerics, economists, sociologists, political scientists, public intellectuals, journalists, influential civil servants, political leaders and activists who weighed into debates about the condition of Ireland and where it was going. Topics considered range from why Patrick Pearse's ideas about education were ignored to why Ireland has been recently so open to large-scale immigration, from the intellectual conflicts of the 1930s to the future of Irish identity. This is a genuinely multi-disciplinary book that offers an accessible overview of how Ireland and what it means to be Irish has changed during the last century.




The Revelation of Ireland


Book Description

Ireland is a strikingly different country now to the one it was in the mid-1990s. Dramatic economic, social and cultural changes, including the Celtic Tiger boom and increasingly secular debate about abortion, the status of women and same-sex marriage underlined the scale of the transformation. The new diversity of the population and literary and musical prowess also revealed a country experiencing rapid alteration. The road to peace - that saw an end to war in Northern Ireland and culminated in the first visit to southern Ireland of a reigning British monarch in 100 years - illuminated the new Anglo-Irish dynamic. Explosive revelations about deep betrayals from the past destroyed the credibility of the traditionally powerful Catholic Church. And in the wake of the 2008 financial crash, Ireland rebounded and rebuilt to great success, but remained plagued by health and housing failures. Economic recovery, the end of civil war politics, ever closer European involvement and Anglo-Irish highs were followed by Brexit lows and increasing talk of Irish unity. There is much to open people's eyes in this riveting account of contemporary Ireland. As the Republic enters its second century of independence, and the North continues to grapple with the legacy of the Troubles, Diarmaid Ferriter makes historical sense of post-1990s Ireland, and what lies in the darkest corners of its archives.




Walled in by Hate


Book Description

In July 1927, at just thirty-five years old, Kevin O’Higgins was assassinated on his way to Mass in Booterstown, Co. Dublin. A reviled figure for anti-Treaty republicans, O’Higgins became the target of particular venom for his vocal support of the Free State government’s execution policy during the Civil War, which saw seventy-seven IRA men die before firing squads, including the best man at his wedding, Rory O’Connor.In Walled in By Hate, Arthur Mathews examines not just the life and death of O’Higgins, focusing on that most acrimonious time in his life, but also those of his contemporaries, such as O’Connor and Erskine Childers, who shaped the course of events around him. He also delves deep into O’Higgins’s relationships with the women around him and chronicles the reactions of the men who killed him, subjects that, until now, have remained largely unexplored.One of the most compelling characters to have emerged from the conflict, and still the target of vitriol today, the tragic story of Kevin O’Higgins encapsulates the bitter divisions of a time in Irish history that continue to echo in today’s Ireland.




When the Luck of the Irish Ran Out


Book Description

Few countries have been as dramatically transformed in recent years as Ireland. Once a culturally repressed land shadowed by terrorism and on the brink of economic collapse, Ireland finally emerged in the late 1990s as the fastest-growing country in Europe, with the typical citizen enjoying a higher standard of living than the average Brit. Just a few years after celebrating their newly-won status among the world's richest societies, the Irish are now saddled with a wounded, shrinking economy, soaring unemployment, and ruined public finances. After so many centuries of impoverishment, how did the Irish finally get rich, and how did they then fritter away so much so quickly? Veteran journalist David J. Lynch offers an insightful, character-driven narrative of how the Irish boom came to be and how it went bust. He opens our eyes to a nation's downfall through the lived experience of individual citizens: the people responsible for the current crisis as well as the ordinary men and women enduring it.




Adolescence in Modern Irish History


Book Description

This edited collection is the first to address the topic of adolescence in Irish history. It brings together established and emerging scholars to examine the experience of Irish young adults from the 'affective revolution' of the early nineteenth century to the emergence of the teenager in the 1960s.




Ireland for Beginners


Book Description




A Short History of Ireland, 1500-2000


Book Description

A brisk, concise, and readable overview of Irish history from the Protestant Reformation to the dawn of the twenty-first century Five centuries of Irish history are explored in this informative and accessible volume. John Gibney proceeds from the beginning of Ireland's modern period and continues through to virtually the present day, offering an integrated overview of the island nation's cultural, political, and socioeconomic history. This succinct, scholarly study covers important historical events, including the Cromwellian conquest and settlement, the Great Famine, and the struggle for Irish independence. Gibney's book explores major themes such as Ireland's often contentious relationship with Britain, its place within the British Empire, the impact of the Protestant Reformation, the ongoing religious tensions it inspired, and the global reach of the Irish diaspora. This unique, wide-ranging work assimilates the most recent scholarship on a wide range of historical controversies, making it an essential addition to the library of any student of Irish studies.




The Fourth Estate


Book Description

This book examines the history of journalists and journalism in twentieth-century Ireland. While many media institutions have been subjected to historical scrutiny, the professional and organisational development of journalists, the changing practices of journalism, and the contribution of journalists and journalism to the evolution of modern Ireland have not. This book rectifies the deficit by mapping the development of journalism in Ireland from the late 1880s to today. Placing the experiences of journalists and the practice of journalism at the heart of its analysis, it examines, for the first time, the work of journalists within the ever-changing context of Irish society. Based on strong primary research - including the previously un-consulted journals and records produced by the many journalistic representative organisations that came and went over the decades - and written in an accessible and engaging style, The Fourth Estate will appeal to anyone interested in journalism, history, the media and the development of Ireland as a modern nation.




Between Two Hells


Book Description

THE IRISH BESTSELLER 'Ferriter has richly earned his reputation as one of Ireland's leading historians' Irish Independent 'Absorbing ... A fascinating exploration of the Civil War and its impact on Ireland and Irish politics' Irish Times In June 1922, just seven months after Sinn Féin negotiators signed a compromise treaty with representatives of the British government to create the Irish Free State, Ireland collapsed into civil war. While the body count suggests it was far less devastating than other European civil wars, it had a harrowing impact on the country and cast a long shadow, socially, economically and politically, which included both public rows and recriminations and deep, often private traumas. Drawing on many previously unpublished sources and newly released archival material, one of Ireland's most renowned historians lays bare the course and impact of the war and how this tragedy shaped modern Ireland.