Here, name by name, parish by parish, province by province, Kevin Myers
details Ireland's intimate involvement with one of the greatest
conflicts in human history, the First World War of 1914 to 1918, which
left no Irish family untouched. With this gathering of his talks,
unpublished essays and material distilled from The Irish Times and
elsewhere, Myers lays out the grounds of his research and findings in
Connaught, Leinster, Munster and Ulster. He revisits the main theatres
of war in Europe - The Somme, Ypres and Verdun, the war at sea and
Gallipoli. He documents these bloody engagements through the lives of
those involved, from Dublin to Cork, Sligo to Armagh, to the garrison
towns of Athy, Limerick, Mullingar and beyond. In Ireland's Great War
Myers uncoils a vital counter-narrative to the predominant readings in
nationalist history, revealing the complex and divided loyalties of a
nation coming of age in the early twentieth century. This remarkable
historical record pieced together the neglected shards of Ireland's
recent past and imparts a necessary understanding of the political
process that saw Sinn Féin's electoral victory in 1918 and the founding
of the Irish Free State. By honouring Ireland's forgotten dead on the
centenary of the Great War. Myers enables a rediscovery of purpose that
will speak to future generations.
