Focusing on the nationalist revolutionaries of Ireland between 1858 and 1928, this study examines the origins of the present-day Irish Republic. Drawing on private letters, diaries, and popular journalism, Garvin concludes that the radical elite who became rulers after 1921 were heavily influenced not only by ancient agrarian grievances, but also by contemporary Catholic abhorrence of the Protestant and secular world. An original contribution to Irish historiography, this book reconstructs the private thoughts behind public political figures.

Nationalist Revolutionaries in Ireland 1858-1928

History

Garvin, Tom

Europe

Clarendon Press

Between the years of the mid thirties through to 1960, independent Ireland suffered from economic stagnation, and also went through a period of intense cultural and psychological repression. While external circumstances account for much of the stagnation - especially the depression of the thirties and the Second World War - Preventing the Future argues that the situation was aggravated by internal circumstances. The key domestic factor was the failure to extend higher and technical education and training to larger sections of the population. This derived from political stalemates in a small country which derived in turn from the power of the Catholic Church, the strength of the small-farm community, the ideological wish to preserve an older society and, later, gerontocratic tendencies in the political elites and in society as a whole. While economic growth did accelerate after 1960, the political stand-off over mass education resulted in large numbers of young people being denied preparation for life in the modern world and, arguably, denied Ireland a sufficient supply of trained labour and educated citizens. Ireland's Celtic Tiger of the nineties was in great part driven by a new and highly educated and technically trained workforce. The political stalemates of the forties and fifties delayed the initial, incomplete take-off until the sixties and resulted in the Tiger arriving nearly a generation later than it might have.

Preventing the Future

Politics & Social Sciences

Sociology

Dublin: Gill & Macmillan

This classic work studies the growth of nationalism in Ireland from the middle of the eighteenth century to modern times. It traces the continuity of tradition from earlier organizations, such as the United Irishmen and the agrarian Ribbonmen of the eighteenth century, through the followers of Daniel O'Connell, the Fenians and the Land League in the nineteenth century to the Irish political parties of today. The dual nature of Irish nationalism is shown in sharp focus. Despite the secular and liberal leanings of many Irish leaders and theoreticians, their followers were frequently sectarian and conservative in social outlook. This book demonstrates how this dual legacy has influenced the politics of modern Ireland. ""This stimulating book is one of the most important and original studies of Irish nationalism and politics to have been written... It will be discussed and cited for many years.""-Michael Gallagher, Irish University Review. ""Buy it rather than borrow it, since it calls for re-reading, reflection and discussion. It illuminates both past and present.""-John A. Murphy, The Sunday Tribune. ""a lively and original book""-L.M. Cullen, The Irish Times.

The Evolution of Irish Nationalist Politics

Gill Books

<p>The present-day Republic of Ireland was created by a revolutionary elite which developed between 1858 and 1914. This book analyses the social origins of the revolutionary politicians who became the rulers of Ireland after 1922 and examines their political preconceptions, ideologies and prejudices. Tom Garvin argues that in many cases they were not only influenced by old agrarian grievances or memories of the Famine, but also, and more immediately, by the contemporary Catholic abhorrence of the Protestant and secular world symbolized by London, England and, to some extent, America. Drawing on the evidence of private letters and diaries as well as the popular nationalist journalism of the period, Nationalist Revolutionaries in Ireland makes a hugely original contribution to Irish historiography. It reconstructs the private thoughts behind the public faces of the emergent leadership of independent Ireland, and also puts that leadership in comparative international perspective. This book, a classic of its type, now appears for the first time in paperback. It demonstrates all of Tom Garvin's intellectual and interpretative daring, his willingness to address major political and historical issues in a wholly original and thought-provoking way and his search for historical trails ignored by others.</p>

This book examines the birth of the Irish state and sets it in its European historical context. The process of democratic nation-making reached full fruition while a vicious civil war was raging, ostensibly fought over points of political principle but actually deciding whether Ireland was to be ruled by popular majority will or by a virtuous but unaccountable minority. Garvin argues that militant republicanism always lacked popular, democratic legitimacy. The mainstream Irish nationalist tradition was moderate and realistic, and it was this nation-building tradition that triumphed in 1922. The stability and good order of the Irish state owes much to this victory. In particular, because the democratic impulse in Irish life overcame the cult of the virtuous minority, Ireland did not go the way of so many other newly emerging European states. There were to be no military dictators or fascist interludes; instead, there evolved a stable democracy which eventually came to include most of those defeated in 1922. ""Tom Garvin... delivers in full measure those qualities which those who know his earlier work will be looking for: new source material, a nose for the big issue, jugular-grasping directness of expression, fertile international comparisons, arresting and sometimes breathtakingly bold judgments. Since there are half a dozen of these to every page, even a big sample could hardly do justice to the impact of his writing.""-Charles Townshend, Irish Political Studies.

1922 - The Birth of Irish Democracy

<p>Between the years of the mid thirties through to 1960, independent Ireland suffered from economic stagnation, and also went through a period of intense cultural and psychological repression. While external circumstances account for much of the stagnation - especially the depression of the thirties and the Second World War - Preventing the Future argues that the situation was aggravated by internal circumstances. The key domestic factor was the failure to extend higher and technical education and training to larger sections of the population. This derived from political stalemates in a small country which derived in turn from the power of the Catholic Church, the strength of the small-farm community, the ideological wish to preserve an older society and, later, gerontocratic tendencies in the political elites and in society as a whole. While economic growth did accelerate after 1960, the political stand-off over mass education resulted in large numbers of young people being denied preparation for life in the modern world and, arguably, denied Ireland a sufficient supply of trained labor and educated citizens. Ireland's Celtic Tiger of the nineties was in great part driven by a new and highly educated and technically trained workforce. The political stalemates of the forties and fifties delayed the initial, incomplete take-off until the sixties and resulted in the Tiger arriving nearly a generation later than it might have.</p>

Preventing the Future: Why was Ireland so poor for so long?

Business & Money

Industries

A fascinating, and often surprising, study of Fifties Ireland-Dermot Bolger, Sunday Independent. ""Another revealing and insightful book by one of our best historians and a timely reminder that the past is not such a foreign country after all""-Andrew Lynch, Sunday Business Post. ""A new look at what's regarded as the darkest decade in our modern history throws light on the trials of today""-Stephen Collins, The Irish Times. ""A triumphant success... the 1950s come alive with an immediacy and crackle seldom found in more conventional histories""-History Ireland. The 1950s was a decade of international economic recovery in the United States and most of Western Europe after the disasters of World War II. There was just one exception. The Irish economy actually contracted in those years, and over four hundred thousand people, out of a population of fewer than three million, emigrated. Tom Garvin's survey of the 1950s is based largely on a close reading of contemporary newspaper reports and analyses. This darkest decade of the Irish state was brought about by an aging government that overstayed its welcome and an ideology of rural frugality that was supported by an under-developed educational system and the overweening power of the Catholic Church. Garvin also traces the rise of the generation that broke this consensus and carried Ireland into the free-trade boom of the 1960s.

News From A New Republic: Ireland in the 1950s

Evolution of Irish Nationalist Politics

Holmes & Meier Pub

"He is sensible, courageous and cool-headed, a man of affairs with his feet on the ground [.] He is probably more progressive that the majority of his colleagues and fellow countrymen, but is too shrewd to try to force the pace." - Extract from a British Foreign Office briefing document, 1959 ** "Without doubt the ablest of the Fianna Fail Ministers. He is generally regarded as a realist who is anxious to get away from the barren political controversies of the past. He is no orator but his public speeches are usually very much to the point, and he is certainly less inclined than his colleagues to wander at large over the field of Ireland's ancient wrongs." - Extract from a report of the British Embassy, 1959 ** "I once heard Lemass say [...] that he had never known a day's happiness since he became Taoiseach, that his mission in public life was Industry and Commerce. While he was there he was happy, because he was doing useful work; from the time he became Taoiseach, he felt himself a supernumerary." - James Dillon, from his unpublished memoirs ** "I would like to have been away from all worldly things like politics. To be in a hut in the mountains surrounded by books on mathematics and working out problems of physics. With such a life I could be very happy." - Sean Lemass speaking to Seamus Brady in the early Sixties **** An almost mythical narrative has grown up around Sean Lemass and his short career as Ireland's Taoiseach from 1959 to 1966. Lemass was responsible for not one, but two economic revolutions in Ireland during his time in the Department of Industry and Commerce. This period marked the beginning of a long process that has transformed the island of Ireland from an agrarian province of the British Isles to a successful, developed country which has been seen as a model for many aspirant, underdeveloped countries. Lemass instigated a new era in North-South relations and began the overhaul of the educational system. In Judging Lemass, renowned historian Tom Garvin introduces the many facets of Sean F. Lemass - a "cusp" figure who ushered in the modern world; a visionary who was imagining a "United States of Europe" since the 1920s; a sharp dresser with a striking "film noir" style; an ex-revolutionary; a city man, who regarded rural Ireland as somewhat alien with its agriculture being a drag on economic development; and, above all, the architect of modern Ireland.

Judging Lemass: The Measure of the Man

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Royal Irish Academy

The Books That Define Ireland

Literature & Fiction

Fanning, Bryan

History & Criticism

Merrion Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Garvin, Tom. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Garvin, Tom

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Garvin, Tom. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Nationalist Revolutionaries in Ireland 1858-1928

Preventing the Future

The Evolution of Irish Nationalist Politics

Nationalist Revolutionaries in Ireland 1858-1928

1922 - The Birth of Irish Democracy

Preventing the Future: Why was Ireland so poor for so long?

News From A New Republic: Ireland in the 1950s

Evolution of Irish Nationalist Politics

Judging Lemass: The Measure of the Man

The Books That Define Ireland