Commemorating Ireland: History, Politics, Culture

This is not so much a book of commemoration as it is on or about commemoration. The title of this book is ambiguous, and intentionally so. On the one hand, there are echoes of 'Writing Ireland' or 'Imagining Ireland', or '(Re)-Inventing Ireland' - an active process shaping our perception of what Ireland is and how it has become what it is. On the other hand, there is an element of glancing back. Only what is gone, what is in the past, can be commemorated. Ireland, having undergone rapid and profound changes in the past decades, often kindles feelings of nostalgia, of an older Ireland having been lost in the 'filthy modern tide'. This is an examination - in an international, comparative context - of the role commemorations play in contemporary politics and society. This is a multi-disciplinary study by an array of distinguished authors: Peter Collins, Mary Daly, Tony Canavan, Owen Dudley Edwards, Paul Arthur, Christopher Harvie, Malcolm Anderson, Neal Ascherson, Gerald Dawe, Christopher Murray and Aidan Howard.