Description

This book, drawn primarily from the author's writings in the Boston Irish News, challenges the simplistic view of many Irish-Americans that the Northern Irish problem would be solved by British withdrawal. McCarthy looks at various efforts far short of total withdrawal, including the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement and views of the Unionist majority of Northern Ireland. McCarthy also considers the Irish-American component to the Northern Irish situation. He analyzes contemporary and historical issues in Ireland, ranging from the 1918 electoral mandate to abortion and the church.
Contents: I. Northern Ireland. England Get Out of Ireland; Prospects for the North; The New Ireland Forum; Hillsborough; The IRA, Sinn Fein and the Hunger Strikers; Israeli Parallels, Schools, Police and Courts; II. Northern Ireland and Irish America. Misconceptions By and About Irish Americans; American Public Pressures on Northern Ireland; The MacBride Principles; III. Ireland. Philosophical Reflections; History and Its Revision; Ireland, Europe and Neutrality; Politics and Economics; Ireland and Irish America. The Differences; The Irish American Story; The New Irish in America.