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The 1998 Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement established power-sharing arrangements between the two divided communities in Northern Ireland. The Agreement is not set in stone but is rather a hopeful yet uncertain project. Making it put down deep cultural roots requires some confrontation with and transformation of the history, and the socially constructed memories, of Ireland’s decisive decade 1912–1923, which was violent and divisive.
2025 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
This is book is both challenging and necessary for scholars of Irish history and historical memory. —CHOICE
‘Written in an unfussy and accessible style, Confronting the Irish Past is intellectually serious and conceptually ambitious. The author’s erudite reflections on the uses (and abuses) of the past and on the ethics of commemoration will interest, provoke, and challenge readers in equal measure.’ — Dr Brian Hughes, University of Limerick, Ireland
‘Commemorations provoke the question of how and why violent events from the past might be celebrated. What are historians doing when they attempt to provide a truthful account of the past? Can there be an ethical evaluation of those events that respects the truth? Séamus Murphy’s excellent transdisciplinary approach shows how.’ — Dr Patrick Riordan, Senior Fellow in Political Philosophy and Catholic Social Thought, Campion Hall, University of Oxford, England
‘Murphy has written a meditation on the bitterly contested, ever-evolving political identity of twentieth-century Ireland that combines engrossing historical narrative with philosophical reflection on the multiple purposes historical narrative serves in all its many forms. The philosophical excursus on historical memory is a tour de force that scholars of Nietzsche and Arendt will especially appreciate.’ — David Ingram, Professor of Philosophy, Loyola University Chicago, United States
Séamus Murphy is professor of philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. He writes on philosophy and public policy. He is a Jesuit.
Acknowledgements; Chronology; Abbreviations and other Names; 1. Introduction; 2. Historians: Objectivity and Value; 3. L’homme Armé: Three Civil Conflicts; 4. Policy and Governance; 5. The Ethics of Social Memory; 6. Identity, Recognition, Politics; References; Index