University College Dublin Press
A Tract for Our Times
A Retrospective on Joe Lee’s Ireland 1912–1985
9781739086374
Distributed for University College Dublin Press
A Tract for Our Times
A Retrospective on Joe Lee’s Ireland 1912–1985
Compelling perspectives from leading historians on Joe Lee's historical classic and its relevance to our current understanding of the history of modern Ireland.
In 1989, renowned historian J.J. Lee published his magnum opus, Ireland 1912–1985: Politics and Society. Not only had Lee written a classic, but he transcended the reach of the academy when the book became a popular bestseller—going over a dozen reprints, selling thousands of copies, and winning an array of awards.
Over three decades later, this collection of essays honors Lee’s contribution to historical scholarship by gauging the influence of Ireland 1912–1985 as a historical analysis and commentary through the contributions of a dozen leading historians of modern Ireland. Simultaneously, this collection measures the applicability of Ireland's 1912–1985 historiographical and methodological approach to more recent history. Nearly all of the contributors to A Tract for Our Times were trained as historians with Ireland 1912–1985 as a touchstone text. Thus, each author revisits this book with their own field of expertise in mind.
Lee's stature as a sought-after public intellectual and a widely published scholar, combined with the profile of contributors, makes A Tract for Our Times an essential reading for anyone interested in the trajectory of Ireland since the decade before independence, and the craft of history writing.
Contributors include Andy Bielenberg, Marion R. Casey, Anne Dolan, Diarmaid Ferriter, Cormac Ó Gráda, Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, Richard McMahon, Daniel Mulhall, Bernadette Whelan, Niall Whelehan and Nicholas M. Wolf.
In 1989, renowned historian J.J. Lee published his magnum opus, Ireland 1912–1985: Politics and Society. Not only had Lee written a classic, but he transcended the reach of the academy when the book became a popular bestseller—going over a dozen reprints, selling thousands of copies, and winning an array of awards.
Over three decades later, this collection of essays honors Lee’s contribution to historical scholarship by gauging the influence of Ireland 1912–1985 as a historical analysis and commentary through the contributions of a dozen leading historians of modern Ireland. Simultaneously, this collection measures the applicability of Ireland's 1912–1985 historiographical and methodological approach to more recent history. Nearly all of the contributors to A Tract for Our Times were trained as historians with Ireland 1912–1985 as a touchstone text. Thus, each author revisits this book with their own field of expertise in mind.
Lee's stature as a sought-after public intellectual and a widely published scholar, combined with the profile of contributors, makes A Tract for Our Times an essential reading for anyone interested in the trajectory of Ireland since the decade before independence, and the craft of history writing.
Contributors include Andy Bielenberg, Marion R. Casey, Anne Dolan, Diarmaid Ferriter, Cormac Ó Gráda, Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, Richard McMahon, Daniel Mulhall, Bernadette Whelan, Niall Whelehan and Nicholas M. Wolf.
300 pages | 10 halftones | 7.09 x 9.69
History: American History, Discoveries and Exploration, History of Ideas
Table of Contents
Dedication
Foreword (Bernadette Whelan)
Introduction (Miriam Nyhan Grey)
1.Portrait of the Historian as a Young Boy (Marion R. Casey)
2.Modernisation, Nineteenth-Century Ireland, and the Early Writings of Joe Lee (Richard McMahon and Niall Whelehan)
3.Tríocha bliain ag fás: reflections on a classic (Cormac Ó Gráda)
4.The Theme of emigration in Ireland, 1912-1985 (Andy Bielenberg)
5.“The Lash of the Liberators”: Ireland, 1912-1985 on Irish Independence (Anne Dolan)
6.“Touting for Respectability”: Church and State (Diarmaid Ferriter)
7.The Impact of Ireland 1912-1985 on the historiography of the Irish language (Nicholas M. Wolf)
8.Leadership and Ireland’s ‘performance’ since 1922: an historiographical perspective on J. J. Lee’s assessment (Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh)
Afterword (Daniel Mulhall)
Appendix: Peripatetic Professor History Ireland interview with Professor Joe Lee, 1995
Acknowledgements
Foreword (Bernadette Whelan)
Introduction (Miriam Nyhan Grey)
1.Portrait of the Historian as a Young Boy (Marion R. Casey)
2.Modernisation, Nineteenth-Century Ireland, and the Early Writings of Joe Lee (Richard McMahon and Niall Whelehan)
3.Tríocha bliain ag fás: reflections on a classic (Cormac Ó Gráda)
4.The Theme of emigration in Ireland, 1912-1985 (Andy Bielenberg)
5.“The Lash of the Liberators”: Ireland, 1912-1985 on Irish Independence (Anne Dolan)
6.“Touting for Respectability”: Church and State (Diarmaid Ferriter)
7.The Impact of Ireland 1912-1985 on the historiography of the Irish language (Nicholas M. Wolf)
8.Leadership and Ireland’s ‘performance’ since 1922: an historiographical perspective on J. J. Lee’s assessment (Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh)
Afterword (Daniel Mulhall)
Appendix: Peripatetic Professor History Ireland interview with Professor Joe Lee, 1995
Acknowledgements