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We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland
We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland | Fintan O'Toole
7 posts | 3 read | 1 reading | 4 to read
Fintan O'Toole was born in the year the revolution began. It was 1958, and the Irish government?in despair, because all the young people were leaving?opened the country to foreign investment and popular culture. So began a decades-long, ongoing experiment with Irish national identity. In We Don't Know Ourselves, O'Toole, one of the Anglophone world's most consummate stylists, weaves his own experiences into Irish social, cultural, and economic change, showing how Ireland, in just one lifetime, has gone from a reactionary "backwater" to an almost totally open society--perhaps the most astonishing national transformation in modern history.Born to a working-class family in the Dublin suburbs, O'Toole served as an altar boy and attended a Christian Brothers school, much as his forebears did. He was enthralled by American Westerns suddenly appearing on Irish television, which were not that far from his own experience, given that Ireland's main export was beef and it was still not unknown for herds of cattle to clatter down Dublin's streets. Yet the Westerns were a sign of what was to come. O'Toole narrates the once unthinkable collapse of the all-powerful Catholic Church, brought down by scandal and by the activism of ordinary Irish, women in particular. He relates the horrific violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, which led most Irish to reject violent nationalism. In O'Toole's telling, America became a lodestar, from John F. Kennedy's 1963 visit, when the soon-to-be martyred American president was welcomed as a native son, to the emergence of the Irish technology sector in the late 1990s, driven by American corporations, which set Ireland on the path toward particular disaster during the 2008 financial crisis.A remarkably compassionate yet exacting observer, O'Toole in coruscating prose captures the peculiar Irish habit of "deliberate unknowing," which allowed myths of national greatness to persist even as the foundations were crumbling. Forty years in the making, We Don't Know Ourselves is a landmark work, a memoir and a national history that ultimately reveals how the two modes are entwined for all of us.
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SamAnne
SamAnne
We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland | Fintan O'Toole
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Spending 2 weeks in Ireland in August. Dublin, Cork region mostly. Looking for advice/suggestions on bookish places—Trinity Library!—as well as good history books. Curing up the Tana French and Claire Keegan backlists…have read Say Nothing.

arlenefinnigan Definitely worth reading
[tagged book]The Barrytown Trilogy
1w
arlenefinnigan The Dublin Literary Pub crawl is really good fun https://www.dublinpubcrawl.com/ 1w
CarolynM I agree with @arlenefinnigan - the Barrytown Trilogy is great. I especially love the third book
[tagged book]The Van
1w
See All 7 Comments
SamAnne @arlenefinnegan @CarolynM thank you for the suggestions! The pub crawl is definitely on the list now… 1w
SamAnne @arlenefinnegan @carolynm oh right! The Commitments! Definitely stacking. 1w
Jeg Lucky you. I‘ve always wanted to go where you are going. Like many people my ancestors are from there. Family name Collins. 1w
SamAnne @Jeg spending time in Cork area and Dublin. Figuring out the rest. Doctors said I should get a chemo port. I decided to travel instead or at least first. Life is precious and too damn short!!! 7d
50 likes7 comments
blurb
jlhammar
jlhammar
We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland | Fintan O'Toole
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O‘Toole time! I‘ve been reading a chapter or two of this brilliant book each day this month. Only midway, but likely to be among my top reads of the year.

Cheers! Wishing you all a wonderful weekend 🍻

SamAnne I‘m reading this right now—not far in—and loving it. Headed to Ireland in August and it‘s one of my prep reads! (edited) 2w
jlhammar @SamAnne Wow, that is something to look forward to! I‘d love to travel there someday. Glad to hear you‘re also enjoying this one. 2w
69 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
SamAnne
SamAnne
We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland | Fintan O'Toole
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I‘m doing all the readathons this month! My goals are to make a dent in the tagged group-planning a visit to Ireland this summer. I want to finish my IRL book club reads of Mouth to Mouth by Antoine Wilson and This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub and start Trust by Herman Diaz. On audio listening to The Authority Gap for #SheSaid. Thanks for hosting @Andrew65 !

Andrew65 Great to have you with us, good luck with all the readathons 😍 4w
38 likes1 comment
review
mjtwo
mjtwo
We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland | Fintan O'Toole
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Pickpick

10-23 Feb 22 (audiobook)
Well-written and read, this is a history of Ireland during the period of the author‘s life. Whilst some of the events are personal, it goes well beyond focusing on the author and provides an insight into the social, political and cultural changes Ireland has undergone since the late 1959s. Some information is astounding (so few toilets in the 1960s); some heartbreaking; and some infuriating. A must read for me.

Chelsea.Poole Great review! 1mo
Cuilin Sounds interesting. I‘ll have to check it out. 1mo
jlhammar Planning to tackle this one in March. Can‘t wait! 1mo
10 likes3 comments
review
Suet624
Suet624
We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland | Fintan O'Toole
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Pickpick

It took me ages & several downloads to finish this, but wow. It was impressive. The author gives a history lesson of Ireland from the late 1950‘s to 2018. The brutality of the Catholic Church to women & children is unrelenting, greedy politicians, emigration, hunger strikes, violence…it‘s all here. I‘m going to be thinking about this book for a long time. This is the country one side of my family comes from & I feel I know the country more now.

Tamra Terrible. 💔 2mo
SamAnne Putting this on my TBR. Planning a visit to Ireland this summer. Also where my ancestors came from. Have been to England several times and Wales, but have yet to make it to Ireland. Hoping to read some more history, and some fiction, before the trip. 2mo
Suet624 @SamAnne I‘m going for my third visit this May. This is a sobering book and doesn‘t mention the delight and humor of the Irish people. So be forewarned. 🤪 I love Ireland and I bet you will too. It‘s a gorgeous place with wonderful folks. 2mo
Megabooks Wow. Sounds like a heavy, important read. 2mo
Suet624 @Megabooks yes! That‘s why I kept going with it. It was fascinating and disgusting and revealing and it‘s quite the history! There are no faeries and leprechauns, that‘s for sure. (Although whenever I‘m there I could swear I feel their presence.) (edited) 2mo
52 likes5 comments
blurb
Vansa
Vansa
We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland | Fintan O'Toole
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#WondrousWednesday @Eggs
1.Ireland!Fintan o'Toole's blistering and deeply personal account of 6 decades from 1958 on,when he was born.The personal is always political,exemplified by this book.
2.Brother of the more famous Jack.Witty,romantic, heartbreaking.Full review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4779189530
3.Cannot wait to read this,first in a planned trilogy on Suleyman the Magnificent.

Eggs Well done! 10mo
12 likes1 comment
review
Vansa
Vansa
We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland | Fintan O'Toole
post image
Pickpick

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs
🦋5 🌟so far,nuanced,complex and deeply personal account of the authors growing up in Ireland during the Troubles.
🦋Michael Ignatieff's On consolation,Richard Cohen's Making History and Abi Morgan's This is not a pity memoir.Links to my reviews in comments!
🦋We have an appointment FINALLY for our vaccine booster this Saturday,very relieved!

Vansa Excellent work on the writers of history, not restricted only to the Western European historical tradition and how in many instances, how they viewed things affect how we talk about the past. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4662023414
[tagged book]Making History: The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past
10mo
Vansa This is a beautiful, thoughtful book on how human beings have responded to sorrow and trouble over the years, and how the means in which we seek solace have evolved. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4589339589
[tagged book]On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times
10mo
Vansa THis book was a devastating, moving account of Morgan's husband, Jacob Krichefski's severe reaction to the withdrawal of a test drug, that affected his MS, the effect on the family, with Abi's memories of their meet-cute and life to that point, interspersed between.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4742098340
[tagged book]This Is Not a Pity Memoir
10mo
Eggs Thanks for joining in 💜🦋💙 10mo
kspenmoll Thanks for your post. Stacked! 10mo
14 likes1 stack add5 comments