Myth and the Irish State

By: John Regan

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

How do we approach troubled histories? Should historians attempt to recover the past and tell it as they imagined it really was? Or should they be more creative and write histories better suited to the needs of the present? These vexed questions inform historical writing on twentieth century Ireland. This volume of 'problem-articles' and review-essays explores what historian John M. Regan calls 'historical anomalies'. These are identified where inconsistencies and errors appear in the interpretation of historical information. Why does critical evidence sometimes go unseen? How does a historian advance an interpretation of something that might be termed 'ethnic cleansing' without verifiable evidence? Why do so many Irish historians describe Michael Collins as a 'constitutionalist' or a 'democrat' when the evidence argues otherwise? Was the Irish civil war really fought between 'democrats' defending the state, against 'dictators' attempting its overthrow? Did the new state briefly experience a military-dictatorship under Collins in 1922? Is there something wrong with the interpretative method employed by some Irish historians? 'Thinking historically' is not about learning history or accepting the past as it is presented to us - it is, Regan argues, about developing the critical skills to interpret history for ourselves.