"Urgent, lucid, and sophisticated, O'Faolain in his essays takes Ireland as a test-case of the modern world. The astute introduction and editing by Brad Kent show just how much these analyses have to say to us now. A rich and satisfying volume." Declan Kiberd, University of Notre Dame "In the current 'Mart of Ideas' (to borrow the title of one of Sean O'Faolain's essays), it is easy to lose sight of what it really means to be an engaged public intellectual. These essays, brought together here with care and coherence, offer us a timely reminder of the importance of such figures in fostering vigorous and intelligent debate. In so doing, they restore O'Faolain not simply as a significant figure in his own time, but as one of the precursors of the transformed Ireland of the twenty-first century." Chris Morash, Trinity College Dublin "The Selected Essays "should not simply be seen as museum pieces, fit only for affording a view into another time," Kent concludes his introductory essay. "O'Faolain was the leading Irish public intellectual of his day, and from these pages we can better grasp some of the modes of thought that have shaped the making of contemporary Ireland and the world far beyond its borders.
" It is an appropriately ambitious claim, and one which is realized time and again in the course of this considered, five-hundred- page book. The reprinting of these essays brings O'Faolain out of the archive and places his work firmly within the reach of contemporary readers of Irish Studies." Canadian Journal of Irish Studies concludes his introductory essay. "O'Faolain was the leading Irish public intellectual of his day, and from these pages we can better grasp some of the modes of thought that have shaped the making of contemporary Ireland and the world far beyond its borders." It is an appropriately ambitious claim, and one which is realized time and again in the course of this considered, five-hundred- page book. The reprinting of these essays brings O'Faolain out of the archive and places his work firmly within the reach of contemporary readers of Irish Studies." Canadian Journal of Irish Studies concludes his introductory essay. "O'Faolain was the leading Irish public intellectual of his day, and from these pages we can better grasp some of the modes of thought that have shaped the making of contemporary Ireland and the world far beyond its borders.
" It is an appropriately ambitious claim, and one which is realized time and again in the course of this considered, five-hundred- page book. The reprinting of these essays brings O'Faolain out of the archive and places his work firmly within the reach of contemporary readers of Irish Studies." Canadian Journal of Irish Studies concludes his introductory essay. "O'Faolain was the leading Irish public intellectual of his day, and from these pages we can better grasp some of the modes of thought that have shaped the making of contemporary Ireland and the world far beyond its borders." It is an appropriately ambitious claim, and one which is realized time and again in the course of this considered, five-hundred- page book. The reprinting of these essays brings O'Faolain out of the archive and places his work firmly within the reach of contemporary readers of Irish Studies." Canadian Journal of Irish Studiesage book. The reprinting of these essays brings O'Faolain out of the archive and places his work firmly within the reach of contemporary readers of Irish Studies.
" Canadian Journal of Irish Studies.