Ireland [antikvár]

orewordBrendan KennellyIreland is a small, pleasant, gossipy,passionate country whose history can at limes become mythology and whose mythological figures and events are sometimes treated as if they were liistorical facts. That history, long and troubled, shows that the Irish are a race of shrewd, resourceful survivors. The mythology, rich and ancient, demonstrates the coexistence in Irish culture and society of the lieroic and the squalid, the magnanimous and the opportunistic. It all adds up to the complex klentity of one of the most fascinating little countries in the world.This book takes a keen look at crucial aspects of that identity. The simple words "Northern Ireland" will conjure up a look of sadness and horrified disbelief on the faces of many people throughout the civilized world, and will prompt them to ask: "How civilized is that particular part of the so-called civilized world?" Ulster is a relatively small province in which tit-for-tat murders by Protestants of Catholics, by Catholics of Protestants, are commonplace. Why? And why has such an appalling state of affairs continued for over 20 years now? Is there any hope of even a glimpse of a resolution of the problem? Or is Ireland a country where horror goes on forever while politicians make vain efforts to "get around a table" in an attempt to talk to each other?This entrapment in almost daily atrocity seems all the more incredible when one considers that Southern Ireland, the Republic, is c]uickly adjusting to its status as a lively, progressive part of the New Europe. Ireland, the traditional land of saints and scholars, is fast becoming a country of yuppies and dynamic young businessmen and businesswomen iletermined to make their profitable mark on