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We Don't Know Ourselves
A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958
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Check link for latest rating. ( 7,673 ratings, 1,051 reviews)
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We Don't Know Ourselves
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
Fintan O'Toole's history of Ireland in his own time. Ireland has changed almost out of recognition during the decades since O'Toole's birth in 1958, and this is his very personal vision of recent Irish history.
Fintan O'Toole – Ireland's leading public intellectual and author of Heroic Failure – tells a history of Ireland in his own time.
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Description
The #1 Irish Times bestseller
WINNER of the An Post Irish Book Awards
'A clear-eyed, myth-dispelling masterpiece' Marian Keyes
'Sweeping, authoritative and profoundly intelligent' Colm Tóibín, Guardian
'With the pace and twists of an enthralling novel' Irish Times
'Evocative, moving, funny and furious' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times
'An enthralling, panoramic book' Patrick Radden Keefe
'A book that will remain important for a very long time' An Post Irish Book Award
We Don't Know Ourselves is a very personal vision of recent Irish history from the year of O'Toole's birth, 1958, down to the present. Ireland has changed almost out of recognition during those decades, and Fintan O'Toole's life coincides with that arc of transformation.
The book is a brilliant interweaving of memories (though this is emphatically not a memoir) and engrossing social and historical narrative. This was the era of Eamon de Valera, Jack Lynch, Charles Haughey and John Charles McQuaid, of sectarian civil war in the North and the Pope's triumphant visit in 1979, but also of those who began to speak out against the ruling consensus – feminists, advocates for the rights of children, gay men and women coming out of the shadows.
We Don't Know Ourselves is an essential book for anyone who wishes to understand modern Ireland.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
We Don't Know Ourselves by Fintan O'Toole has garnered significant acclaim for its compelling and insightful narrative. Critics praise its combination of personal memoir and historical analysis, providing a profound exploration of Ireland's transformation from the 1950s onwards. The book is described as masterful in its storytelling, blending wit, humaneness, and an incisive look at Irish identity and social upheaval. Reviewers highlight its engaging prose and suggest it's essential for anyone interested in understanding modern Ireland.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781784978341
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 01 September 2022
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Apollo
Illustration: 2 x 8pp b&w
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 46.0mm
Width: 128.0mm
Height: 196.0mm
Weight: 457g
Pages: 624
About the Author
Fintan O'Toole is the author of Heroic Failure, Ship of Fools, A Traitor's Kiss, White Savage and other acclaimed books. He is a columnist for the Irish Times and the Milberg Professor of Irish Letters at Princeton University. He writes regularly for the Guardian, New York Review of Books, New York Times and other British and American journals.
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