Fintan O'Toole

After Heroic Failure, his brilliant analysis of the Brexit referendum, Fintan has turned his attention back to Ireland. We Don’t Know Ourselves is subtitled A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958. That was the year of the author’s birth and in the sixty-four years since, his native land has changed almost out of all recognition. The story begins while Eamon de Valera was Taoiseach and Ireland’s cultural life and politics were heavily influenced by the Catholic church. But under successive, more progressive leaders, the political climate started to change and the governing consensus was attacked by feminists, advocates for the rights of children, gay men and women and many others coming out of the shadows. In a very short time Ireland has become one of the most progressive states in Europe. We Don’t Know Ourselves is a superb and engaging analysis of how and why change happened.