History and Memory in Modern Ireland

This volume addresses a subject of vital importance to the study of Irish history—literature and politics. Although collective memory and commemoration has attracted much attention from British, French and American scholars, this is the first major study of the relationship between history and memory in Ireland—closing a remarkable gap in the literature, considering the frequency with which Unionists as well as nationalists have invoked the past, erected monuments and observed anniversaries. This book helps define the main concepts and issues in an emerging field of inquiry.

Author Biography

Born in Armagh, Northern Ireland in 1967, Ian McBride is Lecturer at King’s College London, having previously been Lecturer in Early Modern British History at the University of Durham, 1996–2000. He was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, University College London, and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Dr McBride’s publications include The Siege of Derry in Ulster Protestant Mythology (1997), Scripture Politics: Ulster Presbyterians and Irish Radicalism in the Late Eighteenth Century (1998) – which was shortlisted for the Ewart-Biggs memorial prize – and, co-edited with Tony Claydon, Protestantism and National Identity: Britain and Ireland, c. 1650–c.1850 (1998).