A Learning Curve
A German writer learns the cost of making a god of the nation
In 1914 Thomas Mann was an unquestioning patriot. His country, whose unique spiritual qualities no foreigner could appreciate, had been forced into a war not of its choosing, but one he was sure it would win. Defeat in that war and the disastrous path Germany followed after the economic crash of 1929 were eventually, slowly, to change his mind. Colm Tóibín’s new novel provides a well-crafted and hugely enjoyable account of the trajectory of this important writer and his talented but turbulent family.
Back Stories
A miscellany of tales long and short from a career in Irish journalism
Written with Tears
An inspiring essay collection from inside the Travelling community
William’s World
Blake’s visions of Eden and the meaning of imagination in his verse
Yes We Can
An argument against pessimism and in support of deep human potential
The World Remade
A journey to motherhood, from miscarriage to the joy of birth
Surviving
Poems of strife and discovery that recall Swift, Behan and Durcan
University Pioneer
An Irish historian who encountered misogyny in her academic career
Late Blossoming
A moving poetic exploration of impermanence and mortality
The Attic Tarantino
The innovator Euripides puts the heedless Greek gods on the stage
The Story from Below
The Irish working class’s long search for its voice to be heard in literature
People Like Us
Progressivism’s dirty secret: the left intellectuals abolish the poor
People Like Us
Progressivism’s dirty secret: the left intellectuals abolish the poor
Marie Stopes, who founded Britain’s first birth control clinic, warned loudly against the folly of allowing ‘the diseased, the racially negligent, the thriftless, the careless, the feebleminded, the very lowest and worst members of the community, to produce innumerable tens of thousands of stunted, warped and inferior infants’. Other keen eugenicists argued for progressive welfare measures that would encourage persons of good breeding stock to have more high-quality children.
FROM PREVIOUS ISSUES
Our Enemies’ Enemies
How the US and the Vatican combined to help Nazis escape justice
Not So Equal
They lived in squares, painted in circles and loved in triangles
Grá Don Domhain
Love of place, love of nature, love of life: the poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh
Blogs et cetera
Aren’t we great?
John Fanning
The Irish, Terry Eagleton wrote, were put on earth for other people to feel romantic about. If the positive image we have long enjoyed internationally is now slipping, one reason could be our perceived status as a tax haven. Given the benefits attached to having an attractive ‘brand’ as a nation, we might ask if stubborn defence of our 12.5% corporate tax rate is a wise policy.
SEO: Combating negative perceptions of Ireland’s brand deriving from the ‘tax haven’ accusation
Nation-branding first began to attract attention in the 1990s, for a number of reasons. Prior to that branding was assumed...
The Irish, Terry Eagleton wrote, were put on earth for other people to feel romantic about. If the positive image we have long enjoyed internationally is now slipping, one reason could be our perceived status as a tax haven. Given the benefits attached to having an attractive ‘brand’ as a nation, we might ask if stubborn defence of our 12.5% corporate tax rate is a wise policy.