After I began my researches into Irish history I became more and more dissatisfied with the existing stereotyped model of the supposed centuries old conflict with the English. One day I went into a bookshop to purchase a greatly-hyped History of modern Ireland, and I found that the chapter headings had scarcely changed in a hundred years. A version of Irish history had been set in the nineteenth century, and accepted as true ever after. Next, I happened to purchase out of curiosity a copy of Adolf Hitlers Mein Kampf. I was rather astounded to find that the version of German history Hitler preached was uncannily like the version of Irish history I had been taught in school. Both were derived from the racial theories of the early nineteenth century, of the special Geist or genius of each race, and the Darwinian Rassenkampf or wars of the races, resulting in the survival of the fittest or strongest. Thirdly, when preparing my doctoral thesis I quoted a world-famous authority on some point or another, only for my supervisor to ask me where I got that idea from. (He was an authority on the point.) I resolved to check every fact, never to rely on a single source, and to accept no mans conclusions merely on his reputation. (O si sic omnes).

The Internet, Warts and All asks questions. Why are government digital policies so often out of touch and counter-productive? Why is surveillance law problematic and ineffective - and often defeated in court? Do companies like Google and Facebook really care about freedom of speech? Why are neither laws nor technology companies able to get to grips with trolling? Is 'fake news' something that can be 'dealt with'? Can these issues be addressed more effectively, intelligently and appropriately in the future? To answer these questions, The Internet, Warts and All busts a number of myths and illusions about the internet - about the neutrality of algorithms, the permanence of information, the impact of surveillance, the nature of privacy and more. It shows how trolling and 'fake news' arise - and why current moves to deal with them are doomed to failure. It suggests a way forward - by embracing the unruly nature of the internet.

In Modernism, Ireland and the Erotics of Memory Nicholas Miller re-examines memory and its role in modern Irish culture. Arguing that a continuous renegotiation of memory is characteristic of Irish modernist writing, Miller investigates a series of case-studies in modern Irish historical imagination. He reassesses Ireland's self-construction through external or 'foreign' discourses such as the cinema, and proposes readings of Yeats and Joyce as 'counter-memorialists'. Combining theoretical and historical approaches, Miller shows how the modernist handling of history transforms both memory and the story of the past by highlighting readers' investments in histories that are produced, specifically and concretely, through local acts of reading. This original study will attract scholars of Modernism, Irish studies, film and literary theory.

Set against a volatile political landscape, Irish republican culture has struggled to maintain continuity with the past, affirm legitimacy in the present, and generate a sense of community for the future. Lullabies and Battle Cries explores the relationship between music, emotion, memory, and identity in republican parading bands, with a focus on how this music continues to be utilized in a post-conflict climate. As author Jaime Rollins shows, rebel parade music provides a foundational idiom of national and republican expression, acting as a critical medium for shaping new political identities within continually shifting dynamics of republican culture.

This book had its origin when the author was glancing through an English translation of Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf. He was so struck by Hitler’s account of German history before, during, and after the First World War that he went and bought the book. What amazed him was its resemblance to the version of Irish history that he had been taught in Irish schools. There was no question of either side borrowing directly from the other, but equally obviously both were drawing on a common set of ideas and used a common method of exposition. Further study showed that both exposed a racist view of history and believed in the Darwinian struggle of the races. Both regarded their countries as subjected by alien races who destroyed the pure native culture. Both attributed every evil in their respective societies to these malign evil influences. Both saw that the alien races would have to be expelled from their countries so that their countries could again prosper when their native cultures were restored. Protestant landlords in Ireland had the same place in Irish racist propaganda and political mythology that the Jews had in Nazi political mythology. Most Irish boys of the author’s generation had, like Hitler, come across an inspiring teacher of history who inspired them to nationalism with his one-sided stories of Irish wrongs at the hands of the English. Having realised that the standard version of Irish history was vitiated in its roots the problem arose as to how a version of Irish history could be written which was fair to all parties involved. Many excellent books and monographs on various parts of Irish history have been written, and he has drawn on them considerably in this book. It is noticeable that the further the subject of an historical study is from the present the easier it is to be objective, and the less controversy there is. Some of the points examined and tested in this book are basic assumptions of racist propaganda, that separate races exist, that languages distinguish races, that each race has its own unique culture, and that foreign invasions necessarily destroy that unique culture. The author makes no claim to have done original research on any of the topics discussed in this book, but has drawn on the standard published works. He brings to the research a wide knowledge of the various subjects discussed which he has gathered over a lifetime. As a result of his researches he came to several conclusions. Firstly, that there was no unique Irish or Celtic race, Celtic being merely a language that had spread into many parts of Europe including Ireland. There was only one race in Europe, that of the Palaeolithic hunters who spread over it in the wake of the retreating ice-sheets. Celtic was a branch of the Indo-European languages which originated, apparently in southern Russia about 3000 BC. Gradually it broke into different dialects which further developed into distinct languages. But as late at 1500 BC Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon, and German were the same language. There was no evidence of invasions like those of Celtic warriors or any evidence that they wiped out the native population. As one author (Raftery) however remarked ruefully, it was regarded as virtually heresy to suggest that there never was a Celtic invasion. The culture of Ireland was not unique. It was derived bit by bit from centres of origin abroad, often in the Middle East. Nor were the various bits introduced by conquering warrior races. Farming techniques seem to have been spread largely by copying. Techniques in metal-working by travelling families who kept their secrets among themselves. Borrowing was selective. The Celtic language is as likely to have been introduced by traders as by warriors. Some things like writing and building with stone seem to have been neglected until introduced later in differing circumstances. There is no evidence that Ireland was a peaceful and prosperous land before the coming of ‘the in

Exploring writing of working-class Dublin after Seán O'Casey, this book breaks new ground in Irish Studies, unearthing submerged narratives of class in Irish life. Examining how working-class identity is depicted by authors like Brendan Behan and Roddy Doyle, it discusses how this hidden, urban Ireland has appeared in the country's literature.

"O'Connell presents an excellent biography of the first archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota, who rose from poverty to become an internationally known clerical figure and friend of presidents. . . . Well written and well researched, this biography brings to life an important figure in American religious history. Recommended."--Library Journal