Irish history 
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SOURCE: The New Republic
3/28/2022
Ireland, We Hardly Knew Ye: Fintan O'Toole's Story of Modernization
by Jack Sheehan
Fintan O'Toole's acclaimed popular history of modern Ireland delivers a sharp indictment of child abuse by Catholic priests and the operators of reform schools and institutions, but substitutes national-level psychoanalysis for research in other areas, a historian argues.
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SOURCE: The Atlantic
3/14/2022
Fintan O'Toole on Ireland's Great Gamble
O'Toole's "personal history" of Ireland shows that the Republic sought both modern prosperity and traditional values, but could secure only one.
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3/17/2022
The Trappings of Catholic Tradition Around St. Patrick's Day are out of Step with Modern Ireland
by Donald Beaudette and Laura Weinstein
Americans claiming a connection to Irish heritage and tradition today should consider the Republic of Ireland's ongoing transition toward a more secular, liberal, and multicultural democracy.
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3/17/2022
The Trappings of Tradition Around Irish-American St. Patrick's Day are out of Step with Modern Ireland
by Donald Beaudette and Laura Weinstein
Americans claiming a connection to Irish heritage and tradition today should consider the Republic of Ireland's ongoing transition toward a more secular, liberal, and multicultural democracy.
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SOURCE: The Conversation
3/11/2022
Why Does St. Brigid Get So Much Less Attention than Patrick?
by Lisa Bitel
"This year on March 17, when you’re wearing the green and singing “Dirty Ol’ Town,” take a moment to whisper thanks to St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible, native-born patron saint of Ireland, and ask if Ireland’s premier patron saint should be a woman."
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SOURCE: BBC
2/22/2022
Excavation at Mass Grave in County Galway Could Begin This Year
The remains of children buried in a mass unmarked grave in Tuam, County Galway, could be exhumed later this year under newly-published legislation.
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1/30/2022
At 50th Anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" Peace Feels Less Certain
by Mark Holan
A hometown headline 50 years ago introduced the author to the Troubles in Northern Ireland; at the anniversary of Derry's "Bloody Sunday" a hard-won peace feels precarious.
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SOURCE: The Atlantic
12/16/2021
Beware Prophecies of Civil War
by Fintan O'Toole
Northern Ireland's history shows how "premonitions of civil war served not as portents to be heeded, but as a warrant for carnage," as a seemingly inevitable mass conflict justifies and normalizes smaller-scale political violence as an everyday phenomenon.
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SOURCE: Irish Times
11/26/2021
Can an Official Government Account of Northern Ireland's Troubles be Credible?
"What is needed is not “official” history, but a decision to properly open sensitive archival material to facilitate the writing of evidence-based history. The political will to facilitate that is highly unlikely to materialise."
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9/12/2021
Memo From Irish History: Welcome to Your Future, American Women
by Laura Weinstein
After sustained public outcry, the Republic of Ireland looked to its history of horrific treatment and preventable death of girls and women under its draconian abortion laws and said "enough." Will this example change the course American states like Texas are poised to follow?
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9/5/2021
Review: Heroes of Ireland's Great Hunger
by Alan J. Singer
Christine Kinealy and her co-editors enlist top scholars from both sides of the Atlantic to highlight the stories of individuals and who led efforts for hunger relief against the opposition of the British government.
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7/25/2021
Explaining the Different Post-Colonial Trajectories of Ireland and Haiti
by Alan J. Singer
"The divergent paths of Haiti and Ireland are rooted in the history of 19th century European colonialism, European and American racism, and the very different alternatives offered to the people of the former colonies for the last two hundred plus years."
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6/13/2021
American Conference for Irish Studies Connects the Past, Future of Irish-American Relations
by Mark Holan
The recent virtual American Conference for Irish Studies meeting convened scholars and diplomats to discuss challenges posed by Brexit and opportunities for cooperation between the United States, Northern Ireland, and the Republic.
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SOURCE: Irish Times
5/24/2021
Execution of 13 IRA volunteers in 1921 may have been a war crime, says UCC historian
"Men should have been treated as prisoners of war, according to historian Gabriel Doherty of University College Cork."
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SOURCE: The Baffler
5/5/2021
Except for the Miracles
by Olúfémi Táíwò
"The deciding aspect of politics over these next crucial years will turn on battles against overwhelmingly powerful foes who will try to prevent radical redistribution of resources," writes Olúfémi Táíwò. The legacy of two radicals, in Ireland and Kenya, show the value of partial victory and learning from defeat.
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SOURCE: Times (UK)
4/26/2021
JFK Saw Irish Language Revival as ‘A Waste of National Efforts’
Though his election created great enthusiasm in Ireland, John F. Kennedy did not agree with the cultural nationalist project of reviving the Irish language that was dear to Irish leader Eamon De Valera.
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SOURCE: RTE
3/15/2021
Why Irish Revolutionaries Had to Go Global
by Brian Hanley
Irish republicans advanced their cause by association with the rising tide of anti-imperialism and the endorsement of national self-determination by Woodrow Wilson, as well as a promiscuous set of alliances with Black nationalists like Marcus Garvey and the new Italian fascist movement.
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SOURCE: The Guardian
3/7/2021
Trinity College Reckons with Slavery Links as Ireland Confronts Collusion with Empire
Dublin's Trinity College is undertaking a review of its institutional ties to slavery, a project that involves acknowledging the participation of Irish merchants in the Atlantic slave trade.
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SOURCE: The Guardian
2/11/2021
Empire Shaped Ireland's Past. A Century After Partition, It Still Shapes Our Present
by Michael D. Higgins
The Irish President argues for a full reckoning with the difficult aspects of imperialism and sectarian violence in Ireland's history, by recognizing that a singular unifying narrative is an impossibility.
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SOURCE: The Guardian
Irish President Attacks 'Feigned Amnesia' over British Imperialism
“I am struck by a disinclination,” he says, “in both academic and journalistic accounts to critique empire and imperialism. Openness to, and engagement in, a critique of nationalism has seemed greater.
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