Ireland: The Autobiography: One Hundred Years of Irish Life, Told by Its People - Hardcover

Bowman, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 184488158X ISBN 13: 9781844881581

Publisher: Penguin Ireland, 2016

Synopsis

Ireland in its own words: a dazzling compendium

Over the past hundred years, Ireland has undergone profound political, social and cultural changes. But one thing that has not changed is the Irish genius for observation and storytelling, invective and self-scrutiny. Ireland: The Autobiography draws upon this genius to create a portrait of a century of Irish life through the words of the people who lived it.

Broadcaster and historian John Bowman has mined archives, diaries and memoirs to create a remarkably varied and delightfully readable mosaic of voices and perspectives. Ireland: The Autobiography is a brilliantly selected, wide-ranging and engrossing take on the last century of Irish life. It gives us a portrait of Ireland unlike anything we've read before.

'Absorbing and illuminating ... John Bowman has selected a range of accounts of Irish life that do justice to what happened, what it felt like, and the personal and societal experiences alongside the "official" version.' Diarmaid Ferriter, Irish Times

'A treasure' Irish Examiner

'A whistle-stop tour of the seismic, seminal and explosive events which shaped the nation as we know it' Irish Independent

'Entertaining and informative' Sunday Business Post

'A remarkably varied and delightfully readable mosaic of voices and perspectives' Women's Way

'A thoughtful and eclectic collection' Irish Mail on Sunday

About this title

About the Author

John Bowman is a broadcaster and historian. Since the 1960s he has presented programmes on current affairs and history on RTE television and radio. He is the author of De Valera and the Ulster Question, which was awarded the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, and of Window and Mirror: RTE Television 1961-2011. He lives in Dublin.

From the Back Cover

'We were brought into the room where Daddy was. He lifted his head, and said: "I suppose you know what this means?"'
Nora Connolly on the last hours of James Connolly
'Is it a sin for a girl to improve her looks by using cosmetics, lipstick etc.?'
A letter to the Irish Messenger, 1948
'Now that I was in the middle of it I found it childish and unpleasant, and I was a little ashamed that our own independent country was making a fool of itself yet again.'
John McGahern on the banning of The Dark
'They never announced in advance who was coming on next and it could be a nun who didn't believe in being a nun or it could be someone talking about sex'
Colm Tóibín on the Late Late Show in the sixties
'Is it a good way to live - to see to it that the children appear to be Catholics, while steering clear of the whole thing yourself?'
Nuala O'Faolain on Irish ritual and unbelief
'This is a classic bubble. It's going to end in tears, no question about it.'
Morgan Kelly on the housing market, 2007
'The kitchen had a weird, inhabited quality, dirty delph on the table as if highwaymen had just passed through and had had a feed, and the little radio on the windowsill was still stuttering, its battery having expired long before.'
Edna O'Brien on a return to her childhood home

From the Inside Flap

Over the past hundred years, Ireland has undergone profound political, social and cultural changes. But one thing that has not changed is the Irish genius for observation and storytelling, invective and self-scrutiny. Ireland: The Autobiography draws upon this genius to create a portrait of a century of Irish life through the words of the people who lived it.

Broadcaster and historian John Bowman has mined archives, diaries and memoirs to create a remarkably varied and delightfully readable mosaic of voices and perspectives. From the Leitrim priest who wished to ban jazz to the campaigner who imported contraceptives in defiance of the law; from taoisigh and senior officials to the survivors of industrial schools and Magdalen Laundries; from the School for Farmers' Daughters to the age of Ryanair - these texts give us a collective image of Ireland unlike anything we've read before. Ireland: The Autobiography is a brilliantly selected, wide-ranging and engrossing take on the last century of Irish life.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Ireland
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 184488158X
• ISBN 13: 9781844881581
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 496
• Editor: Bowman John