I am traveling for the holidays. The books that I chose to travel with on the plane and at my daughter/grandkids house were the last (fifth) volume of the second Amber series by Zelazny, described elsewhere and
We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History Of Modern Ireland, by Fintan O'Toole.I ordered it from the library as I am both a history and political geek and because the editors of the New York Times picked it as one of the ten best books published in 1922. Not best of a certain category, but of all the books published (presumably in English in the USA) this year.
The years covered are 1958 through 2018. The author was raised a poor kid, in Crumlin, a mostly working class development outside Dublin, that was substantially modern in that unlike 3/5 of Eire at the time he was raised, it had indoor plumbing. His experiential viewpoint, through attending school run by the Christian Brothers, who served the non-elite, eventually attending university and watching, knowing, interviewing the families, mistresses, political cohorts and many of the individuals who made the news and the headlines over the years is fascinating reading.
But it is a history, both social and political. Central to much of the story is the Catholic Church, the arbiter of morals, politics and what was publicly said. The other large coverage of the country is the politicians. Descriptions of media, particularly broadcast, are used to show what was and what was not said publicly.
O'Toole expresses admiration for many church and political figures. But the constant is the description of a conspiracy of silence which allowed the illusion of morality among both institutions. Don't like the rules of Birth Control? Huge numbers didn't, but avoidance was practiced by any who could afford it while women who were too poor to find ways around the "morality" were targeted. Descriptions of child abuse by clergy (covered up) and mouthing of moral Catholicism by personally corrupt politicians is a constant.
O'Toole interviews IRA as well as Northern Protestant terrorists about murders, opinion and individuals.
The personal view of the events on the history and nature of the society is certainly what attracted the NYT reviewers. There is a charm to the work, although the constancy of the sad silence about "What everyone knows" is almost overpowering.
Personally, for me, a high note of moral Irish behavior is when Bernadette Devlin, member of The British Parliament is ruled out of order as she tries to respond to the British Home Secretary who has just stated the lie that British troops who killed 31 peaceful demonstrators, most of whom were running away, (aka "Bloody Sunday") had been fired upon. No Brits were shot or injured.She ran up the center isle of Parliament shouting, "If I am not allowed to inform the House of what I know, I'll inform Mr. Maudling of what I feel."- and hit him three times in the face.
edit: The last eighth of the book discusses the settlement between the Republic, the Brits and the extreme partisans who all realized that violence and repression were not working to achieve anyone's goals. Almost uniquely in the book, the author gives credit to politicians facing the truth and acting on it.
Also covered is the the "Celtic Tiger", the economic boom that at first drew the admiration of the world and then due to the overextension of banks, the inability of the government to deal in reality and the fact that most of the boom left the island, led to a massive collapse. As throughout the book, the author characterizes much of the problem to be that those in powers operated on wishful thinking rather than reality.
There seems to be a happy ending in that the economy has somewhat stableized and reality seems to be prevailing.
My stepmother left Ireland. I think that she would be glad.
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