We Don't Know Ourselves

English language

Published Dec. 22, 2022 by Liveright Publishing Corporation.

ISBN:: 978-1-63149-653-0
OCLC Number:: 1287087071

(2 reviews)

Weaving his own experiences into this account of Irish social, cultural, and economic change, O’Toole shows how Ireland, in just one lifetime, has gone from a Catholic “backwater” to an almost totally open society. A sympathetic-yet-exacting observer, O’Toole shrewdly weighs more than sixty years of globalization, delving into the violence of the Troubles and depicting, in biting detail, the astonishing collapse of the once-supreme Irish Catholic Church. The result is a stunning work of memoir and national history that reveals how the two modes are inextricable for all of us.

3 editions

Taylor reviewed We Don't Know Ourselves by Fintan O'Toole

Review of 'We Don't Know Ourselves' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

A nice mix of random events in the second half of the 1900s. The author chooses cultural topics he feels were important in defining the country, in an effort to understand the how the current cultural mindset (his thesis) developed. It really is an impressive piece of work and historical writing, but it also lacked Irish humor and really any levity at all. It was quite a bleak and critical look at the country, which is fine, but 600 pages of bleakness wore on me a bit.

Luistxo reviewed We Don't Know Ourselves by Fintan O'Toole

Irlanda ezagutzeko zoragarria / Great book to learn about modern Ireland

5 stars

Irlanda 1950eko hamarkadatik hona. Liburu bikaina... zenbat gauza ezezagun ustezko hurbiltasun politiko batetik (euskal abertzalismoaren ikuspegitik alegia)