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Books

When Irish nationalism meant sexual adventure

A review of Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland, 1890 – 1923, by R.F. Foster. There will be many accounts of the Easter Rising but few will be as enjoyable as this

18 October 2014

9:00 AM

18 October 2014

9:00 AM

Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland,1890–1923 R.F. Foster

Allen Lane, pp.496, £20

One of the easiest mistakes to make about history is to assume that the past is like the recent past, only more so. It’s a natural human tendency to project the outcome of events backwards, ignoring the fact that the arc of history really doesn’t work like that.

In the case of Ireland that tendency to see the past in terms of outcomes is particularly misleading.

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