The Quest for Modern Ireland: The Battle of Ideas 1912-1986
Bryan Fanning brings to life the battle of ideas and intellectual
debates that shaped modern Ireland. The quest depicted here was one
by Irish civil servants, clerics, economists, historians, poets,
politicians, sociologists, and writers to understand and face up to
social, economic, and political dilemmas. Though often presented as
such, this was never a Manichean battle between authoritarians and
liberals, conservatives and progressives, or between religiosity
and secularism. The book offers a unique and nuanced insight into
Irish social, cultural, economic, and political development through
its focus on the debates fostered by five influential periodicals.
In The Crane Bag, poets and philosophers led by Richard Kearney
placed what he called the Irish mind on the couch in an effort to
make sense of the Northern conflict. In The Bell, Sean
O'Faolain rallied liberal writers against the national myths
seemed to obscure everyday reality. In Christus Rex, Catholic
conservatives pursued a
