The definitive biography of Seán Lemass, the finest Taoiseach in the history of the Irish StateThere are few facets of Irish life which do not owe something to the genius, effectiveness or determination of Lemass. Horgan's biography explores that contribution quite brilliantly.Bertie Ahern, The Irish TimesAs a boy Seán Lemass fought in the 1916 rising. He was a member of de Valera's first cabinet, Minister for Industry and Commerce in every Fianna Fáil government between 1932 and 1959, and as Taoiseach from 1959 to 1966 was the pivotal figure in the modernisation of Ireland.The Lemass that emerges from this fine book is an enigma and a passionate patriot; a protectionist who later became an apostle of free trade; a moderniser in what was often a party of traditionalists.John Horgan's excellent biography is the work of a critical admirer who sees his subject as one of the most outstanding Irish political figures of the century. The only biographer to have had complete access to all the government papers for the full period of Lemass's political career, Horgan provides us with a rounded, sympathetic yet critical examination of the life of one of twentieth-century Ireland's most distinguished figures.... a comprehensive and thoughtful work worthy of the subject, [it] lives up to its billing as a major biography of the Fianna Fáil leader.Stephen Collins, The Sunday TribuneSeán Lemass was not only one of the most formidable, but, for all his apparently bluff straightforwardness, one of the most elusive personalities in the history of twentieth-century Ireland. John Horgan's study, skilfully crafted and elegantly expressed, is a major biography of a major figure, greatly enhancing our understanding of the making of modern Ireland.J.J. Lee, author of The Modernisation of Irish Society, 1848–19

Seán Lemass enjoys unrivalled acclaim as the 'Architect of Modern Ireland'. Yet there remain great gaps in our knowledge of this mythic figure and his golden age. Up to now Lemass, a colossus of twentieth-century Irish history, was airbrushed to fit a narrative of national progress. Today, this narrative is undergoing an agonising reappraisal. This groundbreaking study reveals the man behind the myth and asks questions previously skirted around. What emerges is an authoritarian, cunning, workaholic patriot; a shrewd political tactician whose impatience lay not just with the old Ireland, but with democracy itself. This is the untold story of a great man and his lasting impact on a nation's imagination.

Enda Delaney argues that migration to Britain was qualitatively different from that to North America and that transience was the overriding characteristic of Irish migrant experience in the twentieth century. He provides an analysis of reasons for large-scale migration, in the process answering the important question of why so many people left Ireland. Demography, State and Society focuses on a number of vital themes, many rarely mentioned in previous studies: state policy in Ireland, official responses to migration in Britain, gender dimensions, individual migrant experience, patterns of settlement in Britain, and the crucial phenomenon of return migration. It offers much that will be of interest to scholars, students, and general readers in Irish migration as well as those in the wider fields of modern British and Irish history and migration studies.

A New History of Ireland is the largest scholarly project in modern Irish history. In 9 volumes, it provides a comprehensive new synthesis of modern scholarship on every aspect of Irish history and prehistory, from the earliest geological and archaeological evidence, through the Middle Ages, down to the present day. Volume VII covers a period of major significance in Ireland's history. It outlines the division of Ireland and the eventual establishment of the Irish Republic. It provides comprehensive coverage of political developments, north and south, as well as offering chapters on the economy, literature in English and Irish, the Irish language, the visual arts, emigration and immigration, and the history of women. The contributors to this volume, all specialists in their field, provide the most comprehensive treatment of these developments of any single-volume survey of twentieth-century Ireland.

In the first book detailing the social and economic history of Ireland during the Second World War, Bryce Evans reveals the real story of the Irish emergency. Revealing just how precarious the Irish state’s economic position was at the time, the book examines the consequences of Winston Churchill’s economic war against neutral Ireland. It explores how the Irish government coped with the crisis and how ordinary Irish people reacted to emergency state control of the domestic marketplace. A hidden history of black markets, smugglers, rogues and rebels emerges, providing a fascinating slice of real life in Ireland during a crucial period in world history. As the first comparison of economic and social conditions in Ireland with those of the other European neutral states – Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Portugal – the book will make essential reading for the informed general reader, students and academics alike.

Policy concertation - the determination of public policy by means of agreements struck between governments, employers and trade unions - continues to thrive in Western Europe despite the impact of liberalizing trends that were expected to lead to its demise. This volume brings together a team of 23 experts with the aim to undertake paired historical and political studies of policy concertation in ten West European countries, which were then subjected to systematic comparative analysis. It shows that overall the incidence of broad policy concertation in Western Europe can be explained by the changing configurations of just three variables.

Between the years of the mid-thirties through to 1960, independent Ireland suffered from economic stagnation, and also went through a period of intense cultural and psychological repression. While external circumstances account for much of the stagnation – especially the depression of the thirties and the Second World War – Preventing the Future argues that the situation was aggravated by internal circumstances. The key domestic factor was the failure to extend higher and technical education and training to larger sections of the population. This derived from political stalemates in a small country which derived in turn from the power of the Catholic Church, the strength of the small-farm community, the ideological wish to preserve an older society and, later, gerontocratic tendencies in the political elites and in society as a whole. While economic growth did accelerate after 1960, the political stand-off over mass education resulted in large numbers of young people being denied preparation for life in the modern world and, arguably, denied Ireland a sufficient supply of trained labour and educated citizens. Ireland's Celtic Tiger of the nineties was in great part driven by a new and highly educated and technically trained workforce. The political stalemates of the forties and fifties delayed the initial, incomplete take-off until the sixties and resulted in the Tiger arriving nearly a generation later than it might have.

Pressure groups are fundamental to pluralist societies. But what is the relationship between those groups and parliaments? This work explores the links between parliaments and pressure groups, assessing the extent and impact of the contact that occurs. Is pressure group activity beneficial to parliament? And what are the implications for the political system?