Towards Commemoration

This book arrives on foot of a decade of commemorations. Contemporary Ireland was founded during the fractious years 1912-1923. From the signing of the Ulster Unionists' Solemn League and Covenant to the partitioning of the country and subsequent Civil War in the Irish Free State, a series of events shaped Ireland for the century to come. Not least of these was World War I. This volume, edited by John Horne, features essays by leading historians, journalists, civic activists and folklorists. The outstanding body of scholarship offers an array of new views in the incendiary debate on how to remember a divided past. The book is organised into three sections: histories, memories and commemorations. The first section picks through the backgrounds of war and violence in the European and Irish revolutionary contexts. In the second section personal histories drawn from community and family memories are told. The third section contains the most heated contributions on the dangers and opportunities of commemorations. This collection is framed around a ten year period, yet it takes the reader towards a richer understanding whole of the twentieth century, allowing for an open and creative engagement with the past of war and revolution.