These essays provide a study of the development of political ideas in Ireland from the 17th to the 20th century. The book breaks away from the traditional emphasis in Irish historiography on the nationalism/unionism debate to throw light on previously neglected areas such as the role of the Scottish Enlightenment and early Irish socialism and conservatism. A wide range of original primary sources are used from pamphlets to journalism, devotional tracts to poetry.

Based on extensive historical, literary and political research, this text examines the relationship between ideas and political and social reality. It explains why the aspirations of Irish nationalism have failed to modify the facts of Irish political conflict and sectarian division. For this revised edition, Professor Boyce has added a new final chapter which considers the development of nationalism in both parts of Ireland in the light of the most recent political events and places the phenomenon of nationalism in its contemporary and European setting.

This wide-ranging collection brings together multiple perspectives on a key period in Irish history, from the Fenian Rising on 1867 to the creation of the Irish Free State, with a focus on the formation of Irish identity.