Ireland and Empire

A growing number of historians, political commentators, and cultural critics have sought to analyze Ireland's past and present in colonial terms. For some, including Irish Republicans, it is the only proper framework for understanding Ireland. Others reject the very use of the colonial label for Ireland's history; amongst some Ulster Unionists the term is greeted with outrage. This book evaluates and analyzes these controversies, which range from debates over the ancient and medieval past to those in current literary and postcolonial theory. Scholarly, at times polemical, it is the most comprehensive study of these themes ever to appear. It will undoubtedly arouse sharp controversy.

1: Introduction
2: Contexts and Concepts
3: The Past in the Present
4: Irish Nationalists and the Colonial Image
5: British Imperialists and Their Critics
6: Chroniclers and Revisionists
7: Colonialism, Criticism, and Cultural Theory
8: The Irish Republic as Postcolonial Polity
9: Northern Ireland after 1968: An Anticolonial Struggle?
10: Ulster Unionism: A Colonial Culture?
11: Comparative Perspectives
12: Conclusions
Bibliography, Index