20–1230
In this thorough sifting of the Irish problem, the author, an Englishman, does not spare England. Of her habit of not taking Ireland seriously he says that if it is persisted in “it will bring ruin not only on Ireland but upon England and on our European civilization generally. If Ireland is not ... given her freedom equally with every other nation in Europe, another great world-war is as certain as the rising of tomorrow’s sun.... Every nation on the earth that desires to do wrong to another takes fresh heart when it thinks of the example of England in Ireland.” Contents: Why it is important to realize that Ireland is a nation; The historical thread; Sinn Fein; The insurrection of 1916; Ulster: the facts of the case; The hesitating sort of Liberal and Irish self-determination; One man’s views on Dominion home rule; The Irish soldier; Ireland’s record in the war; The soldiers’ sacrifice; The English in Ireland: a scene; Another scene: the drums of Ulster; The witness of the poets; A note on Irish literature; Voices of the new Ireland (from various writers); Common-sense about the little nations; Epilogue.
“Interestingly written though somewhat lacking in unity.”
+ − Booklist 16:237 Ap ’20
“It is devoid of all appearances of sentimentality, yet the very calmness with which the argument is followed gives a force to the book which passion itself could hardly sustain.”
+ Cath World 112:259 N ’20 500w + Cleveland p76 Ag ’20 50w
Reviewed by Preserved Smith
+ Nation 110:768 Je 5 ’20 550w
“‘Ireland a nation’ stands above and apart from the vast majority of books on the subject. It owes this distinction not only to its author’s brilliant handling of a complicated theme, to his sense of selection, and to his gift of distilling the essence of long-drawn-out controversies into a witty phrase, but primarily to the fact that he lifts the issue to a new and higher plane. Where other writers take it for granted that the dispute is one between two nations. Mr Lynd confronts the rulers of Great Britain with their pledges not to Ireland but to the civilized world, and insists that an Irish settlement is to England’s allies, no less than her enemies, the ‘acid test’ of whether these pledges are more than mere empty words.”