Ireland and Empire Colonial Legacies in Irish History and Culture [Hardcover]

A growing number of historians, political commentators, and cultural critics have sought to analyze Ireland's past and present in colonial terms. For some, including Irish Republicans, it is the only proper framework for understanding Ireland. Others reject the very use of the colonial label for Ireland's history; amongst some Ulster Unionists the term is greeted with outrage. This book evaluates and analyzes these controversies, which range from debates over the ancient and medieval past to those in current literary and postcolonial theory. Scholarly, at times polemical, it is the most comprehensive study of these themes ever to appear. It will undoubtedly arouse sharp controversy.

1. Introduction
2. Contexts and Concepts
3. The Past in the Present
4. Irish Nationalists and the Colonial Image
5. British Imperialists and Their Critics
6. Chroniclers and Revisionists
7. Colonialism, Criticism, and Cultural Theory
8. The Irish Republic as 'Postcolonial' Polity
9. Northern Ireland after 1968: An Anticolonial Struggle?
10. Ulster Unionism--A Colonial Culture?
11. Comparative Perspectives
12. Conclusions
Notes, Bibliography, Index

Stephen Howe'sIreland and Empireis the most lucid and best-written critique of [the] debate that has yet appeared. He is extraordinarily well read and presents the views of the various players in the debate fairly and often more clearly than they do themselves...Howe has opinions of his own, and they are often biting and funny. This is erudition at its best...[the book's] footnotes are a treat to read, as they are cutting and frequently amusing. And the index is first-rate...[T]he writing is so clear that anyone who knows the history of the British Isles moderately well will have no trouble grasping his arguments...This book should be purchased by any good college library. --History: Review of New Books

[Howe's] chapters are lucid, perceptive critiques of the immelƒ,