Twentieth-century Ireland: Nation and state (New Gill history of Ireland) - Softcover

Keogh, Dermot

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0717116247 ISBN 13: 9780717116249

Publisher: Gill & Macmillan, 1994

Synopsis

With the emphasis on the South, this book looks at the island of Ireland since partition and examines the performances of the two entities created by the collapse of the old Union. The book looks at the development of Irish states of mind and follows the great change from the dominant farmer-shopkeeper rural culture of the 1930s and 1940s to the more urban, cosmopolitan attitudes of recent decades. Overshadowing all the achievements and failures of independent Ireland has been the spectre of Northern Ireland. The author sees Northern Ireland as a self-contained problem and refuses to blame the Troubles for the shortcomings of the Republic in the 1990s.

About this title

About the Author

Dermot Keogh is Professor of European Integration Studies, Department of History, University College Cork, Ireland. He also studied at University College Dublin and the European University Institute, Florence where he was the first Irish person and the first historian to receive a doctorate. His other books include 'The Vatican, the Bishops and Irish Politics 1919-1939' and 'The Rise of the Irish Working Class, 1890-1914'. In 1993, he edited with Michael Haltzel, 'Northern Ireland and the Politics of Reconciliation'.

From Library Journal

Keogh's (history, Univ. Coll., Cork) study of the Irish state reviews politics, culture, and social changes from passage of the Government of Ireland Act in 1920 through 1992. Not surprisingly, politics dominates the narrative as the state struggles to develop its economy, rhetorically pursue control of Northern Ireland, maintain relations with Great Britain, and (at least since 1972) be a sometimes secular state in a Catholic-dominated conservative culture. Irish politicians still court the church's approval on social legislation, and Ireland still bans divorce. Keogh reaches beyond dry statistics, using poetry and quoting from interviews with figures like Sean MacBride and Conor Cruise O'Brien. The Provos fare the worst, with the Official IRA close behind, while Keogh repeatedly criticizes the oppression of Irish women. With the index, this book should become a popular Irish history textbook. An excellent survey history and a valuable addition to public and academic reference collections.
Robert C. Moore, DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co. Information Svcs., North Billerica, Mass.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Gill & Macmillan
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0717116247
• ISBN 13: 9780717116249
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400