The Other Irish Revolution: the Writing of History

Abstract

This account of the revolution in the writing of history in Ireland outlines the development of a professional approach to the writing of Irish history, largely confined to the twentieth century, and then summarises, crudely and briefly, the debate generated in the latter decades of that century over what was felt by some to be an excessive revision of the traditional record of Ireland’s past. In that latter section, the account below draws heavily on Interpreting Irish History, edited by Ciaran Brady (Irish Academic Press, 1994) and those who are interested in this part of the story are advised to consult that book, which reproduces many of the formative articles upon which this debate rests.