06-16-2025, 01:05 PM
We Don't Know Ourselves by Fintan O'Toole
The subtitle for the book is: A Personal History of Modern Ireland
This was a rough book, peering deep into kind of the seamy side of Ireland since 1958 or so. It looks at the evolution of the Irish state since the War of Independence and the Civil War but really picks up steam when the author was born. Each chapter is a year and covers pretty much a single topic whether it's the church or corruption or emigration. It's not a very flattering portrait. I was really interested in the years that I was there to see what I missed. Hard to believe a teenage boy was blithely unaware of the world around him. The big story for my years was the arrival of the Pope and how me much continued the stranglehold the Catholic Church held on the morality of Ireland. But there was a lot of saying one thing and doing another in the Irish psyche. For instance, everyone was against abortion but they all turned a blind eye to the women who had to go to England to get one. I think my years were also when the Bishop of Galway had a mistress upon whom he fathered a child.
There weren't a lot of stories to make you feel proud. Even the Celtic Tiger era had a tremendous downside when it concluded. I'm glad I read it, but I'm not glad I read it.
The subtitle for the book is: A Personal History of Modern Ireland
This was a rough book, peering deep into kind of the seamy side of Ireland since 1958 or so. It looks at the evolution of the Irish state since the War of Independence and the Civil War but really picks up steam when the author was born. Each chapter is a year and covers pretty much a single topic whether it's the church or corruption or emigration. It's not a very flattering portrait. I was really interested in the years that I was there to see what I missed. Hard to believe a teenage boy was blithely unaware of the world around him. The big story for my years was the arrival of the Pope and how me much continued the stranglehold the Catholic Church held on the morality of Ireland. But there was a lot of saying one thing and doing another in the Irish psyche. For instance, everyone was against abortion but they all turned a blind eye to the women who had to go to England to get one. I think my years were also when the Bishop of Galway had a mistress upon whom he fathered a child.
There weren't a lot of stories to make you feel proud. Even the Celtic Tiger era had a tremendous downside when it concluded. I'm glad I read it, but I'm not glad I read it.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm