Rethinking Irish History: Nationalism, Identity and Ideology

This book provides a critical interpretation of the construction of Irish national identity in the larger perspective of history. Drawing on recent sociological theory, the authors demonstrate how national identity was invented and codified by a nationalist intelligentsia in the late 19th century. The trajectory of this national identity is traced as a process of crisis and contradiction. One of the central arguments is that the negative implications of Irish national identity have never been fully explored in terms of social science.