Spotlights on Irish History

Book excerpt: This work is based on discussions held at a series of meetings on historical subjects by the Aubane Historical Society under the auspices of the Duhallow Heritage Centre, in Newmarket, County Cork during the 1990s. The discussions at the eight meetings amounted to something approaching a history of Ireland from the 1640s to the 1920s. The Williamite conquest is the only substantial gap. The book examines the major personalities, movements and events through which Ireland developed from what Pearse called a mob into a nation.