The Lie of the Land: Irish Identities

by Fintan O'Toole

The Lie of the Land is a highly engaging study of Ireland’s fractured and shifting identities by one of its most talented writers. From its sometimes confused sense of place, caught somewhere between Europe and America, Ireland has redefined itself in the 1990s. Fintan O’Toole highlights the contradictions and the mythologies at work in Ireland’s ever-changing idea of itself.

Genres: Ireland, History, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Fintan O'Toole is a columnist, assistant editor and drama critic for The Irish Times. O'Toole was born in Dublin and was partly educated at University College Dublin. He has written for the Irish Times since 1988 and was drama critic for the New York Daily News from 1997 to 2001. He is a literary critic, historical writer and political commentator, with generally left-wing views. He was and continues to be a strong critic of corruption in Irish politics, in both the Haughey era and continuing to the present.

O'Toole has criticised what he sees as negative attitudes towards immigration in Ireland, the state of Ireland's public services, growing inequality during Ireland's economic boom, the Iraq War and the American military's use of Shannon Airport, among many other issues. In 2006, he spent six months in China reporting for The Irish Times. In his weekly columns in The Irish Times, O'Toole opposed the IRA's campaign during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fintan_O...

Reviews

[Camelia Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lie of the Land was a chance encounter at my local library book sale. Every now and then I am compelled to read something Irish.

Published in 1997, the book is out of date as a social commentary, but not as a piece of Irish history. It contains 14 articles written in the 80s and 90s. The longest is Scenes from the Birth of a New Morality and also my favorite. It captured the public reactions to and the brewing social changes in the wake of the great scandals at the time, from the Catholic priest who sexually abused children for decades and the bishops and politicians who covered it up, to the bishops and priests who defended conservative values while committing sins they so condemned, to the abandoned newborn babies, and to the X Case. I knew divorce became legal after the 1995 referendum, but I did not know the referendum was only passed by a tiny margin. Irish women would have to fight for another 23 years to gain bodily autonomy. Another favorite article is Gay Bryne.

I will read this author's latest books.

[Joe McMahon · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my quest for books written about present-day Ireland, I have learned that Fintan O'Toole is a perceptive and skilled writer. "The Lie of the Land" is a collection of essays he published in the final two decades of the twentieth century. As a result, I could sense whether his predictions or analysis of trends was accurate. It most certainly was! Each essay shows different skills at work. "Annie and the Bishop" told a known story for me, as I was onto it as it happened, as a result of subscribing to The Tablet (of London). The attempt of clerics to force Gay Byrne to obey the parameters of public discussion is well-narrated. Each essay made a serious contribution to the evolution of Ireland in recent decades.

[Ann-Marie Messbauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard Fintan O'Toole interviewed a couple of times on the radio and found him interesting , so I decided to try one of his books. "The Lie of The Land: Irish Identities" is a collection of essays he wrote in the late '80's through the mid-'90's covering history, politics, religion, and culture in Ireland. I enjoyed them all, but as a clueless American I found I couldn't quite appreciate the ones about Irish politics as well as they deserved, although I did understand the general ideas O'Toole was trying to convey. I know the essays were written in reaction to events going on at the time and not conceived of as being part of one volume, so sometime I will read another of his works that was written as an intentionally unified whole. I really liked his writing style.

[Andy Mcloughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mix of history, commentary, and reportage, The Lie of the Land is Fintan O’Toole’s portrait of a nation on the threshold of modernity. A product of our revolutionary era of scandal and disillusion, this short volume of essays depicts an Ireland which is at once insecure, parochial, traumatized, and fitfully awakening to the possibility of being something else.

A testament to the possibility of progress amid uncertainty, all those seeking to emerge stronger from our current historical juncture would do well to find inspiration in O’Toole’s tender and unflinching account of another time when we felt there was still everything to play for.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite chapters were about Irish-American relations and the Irish mindset. Being an American, it was harder to feel any sort of connection to the chapters about Irish politicians. Those parts felt dated as well.

[Shiraz · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some really fascinating essays in this and a few that were less interesting.