Dublin - Event Notice
Thursday January 01 1970

Tim Pat Coogan launches 'Troubled History' - Friday November 7th

dublin | history and heritage | event notice

Wednesday October 29, 2008 11:28

by Jack Lane - Aubane Historical Society

jacklaneaubane at hotmail dot com

A 10th anniversary critique of Peter Hart's The IRA and its Enemies, by Niall Meehan and Brian Murphy

Troubled History - a 10th anniversary critique of Peter Hart's The IRA and its Enemies
by Niall Meehan and Brian Murphy osb, introduction by Ruan O'Donnell (Head of History Dept, Limerick University)

Launch
Friday 7 November 2008, 8pm (sharp)
Teachers' Club, Parnell Square, Dublin 1

Introduced by

Tim Pat Coogan

Author of biographies of Michael Collins (1990), Eamon deValera (1993), histories of The Irish Civil War (1998), 1916: the Easter Rising (2001),The IRA (1970), The Troubles (1995), and Tim Pat Coogan: A Memoir (2008)

All Welcome

10 years of controversy in Irish history. Why is this research so controversial - the newspaper cutting is one reason

Troubled History examines the uncritical academic and media reception afforded to Peter Hart's research, prior to and after publication in 1998. It traces the history of the dispute with Hart's findings and engages with contemporary sources.

The pamphlet publishes an affidavit from the son of the last surviving veteran of the Kilmichael Ambush of November 1920, Ned Young. Young died on November 13 1989. His death was reported in the Southern Star on November 18 1989. Hart reported interviewing a Kilmichael veteran on November 19.

Niall Meehan's analysis of Hart's 1992 PhD thesis, on which The IRA and its Enemies was based, reveals new anomalies within this important research. Brian Murphy's essay points to the continuing use of Hart's research to paint the Irish War of Independence as a sectarian, ethnic conflict. Meehan and Murphy question the evidential adequacy of this view and trace it back to Hart's work.

See also:

The War of Independence 1919-2004: What Is The Dispute About Kilmichael And Dunmanway Really About?
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/67769

The History Ireland Debate - Peter Hart, Brian Murphy, Meda Ryan, and others
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/80362

Now it's History (Ireland)! Peter Hart replies on Tom Barry and Kilmichael (but not Dunmanway)
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/69172

Playing Handball Against a Haystack: A Response to Brian Hanley's Defence of Peter Hart
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/70063

[Also, see, launch of book on Coolacrease controversy, Thursday Nov 6 in Offaly, http://www.indymedia.ie/article/89557]

Troubled History - a 10th anniversary critique of Peter Hart's The IRA and its Enemies
by Niall Meehan and Brian Murphy osb, introduction by Ruan O'Donnell (Head of History Dept, Limerick University)

Launch