This book explores the efforts made by British governments, Irish politicians, and Irish cultural organisations to master and shape Ireland in an age of increasingly rapid change, and explain the process and outcome of these endeavours.

This wide-ranging collection brings together multiple perspectives on a key period in Irish history, from the Fenian Rising in 1867 to the creation of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland in 1921, with a focus on the formation of Irish identity. The chapters, written by team of experts, focus on key individuals or ideological groups and consider how they perceived Ireland's future, what their sense of Irish identity was, and who they saw as the enemy. Providing a new angle on Ireland during the period from 1867 to 1921, this book will be important reading for all those with an interest in Irish history.

In this age of globalization with scores of developing countries struggling with poverty and economic deprivation, Ireland’s transition from a stumbling agrarian country into one of the world's most lavishly successful service-sector economies within a decade, is a beacon of hope in a world of despair. Unemployment, which approached 20% in the 80s, is now down to 4%, and the debilitating, centuries-old emigration trend has been reversed. In the most startling development, Ireland is now the world's biggest exporter of computer software, nudging ahead of America. Far from being a nation finally at peace with itself and comfortable with its newfound affluence, the “Celtic Tiger” Ireland seems increasingly fraught with contradictions. This is still the only country in Europe to outlaw abortion, the only country in the world with this ban written into its constitution. As Ireland becomes more affluent, it has struggled with the moral dilemma about how it should receive thousands of migrants forced to flee conditions in their homelands that are strikingly similar to the harsh economic circumstances that provoked decades of Irish emigration. A brilliant piece of commentary, this book looks into Ireland’s dramatic transformation and explores its promise and paradox.

The years between 1880 and 1940 were a time of unprecedented literary production and political upheaval in Ireland. It is the era of the 1916 Easter Rising, the Irish Revival, and a time when many major Irish writers - Yeats, Joyce, Beckett, Lady Gregory - profoundly impacted Irish and World Literature. Recent research has uncovered new archives of previously neglected texts and authors. Organized according to multiple categories, ranging from single author to genre and theme, this volume allows readers to imagine multiple ways of re-mapping this crucial period. The book incorporates different, even competing, approaches and interpretations to reflect emerging trends and current debates in contemporary scholarship. As ongoing research in the field of Irish studies discovers new materials and critical strategies for interpreting them, our sense of Irish literary history during this period is constantly shifting. This volume seeks to capture the richness and complexity of the years 1880-1940 for our current moment.

Named Book of the Month Club's Book of the Year, 2017 Selected one of New York Times Readers’ Favorite Books of 2017 Winner of the 2018 Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Boy In the Striped Pajamas, a sweeping, heartfelt saga about the course of one man's life, beginning and ending in post-war Ireland Cyril Avery is not a real Avery -- or at least, that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he? Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead. At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from - and over his many years, will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country, and much more. In this, Boyne's most transcendent work to date, we are shown the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. The Heart's Invisible Furies is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit.