Nation States

Michael Mays is associate professor and Chair of English at the University of Southern Mississippi.

• Chapter 1 Introduction: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Irish CultureChapter 2 National Memory and Postcolonial NonsenseChapter 3 "A Nation Once Again"?: The Dislocations and Displacements of Irish Nationalist MemoryChapter 4 The Ends of Cultural Nationalism and the Limits of Nationalist CultureChapter 5 Ourselves Alone?Chapter 6 HomelandChapter 7 The Troubled StateChapter 8 Afterword: Irish Identity in an Age of Globalization

Michael Mays' book is a distinguished and original contribution to the current critical confluence of Irish cultural, social, political, and literary history. Mays has unified these elements through a lucid and continuous scholarly narrative marked by a non-pedantic use of primary sources and a fine use of critical theory subordinate to his primary style of presentation. Especially useful is Mays' questioning and judicious use of 'postcolonial' theory and his discussions of modern Irish literature; his crisp and interesting insights regarding Yeats are worth the price of admission. It is the only scholarly work in its genre which I find appropriate for both advanced scholarship and the pleasure of the informed general reader. I unreservedly recommend this excellent book.