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The Identity of Ulster

By Dr. Ian Adamson

This is a book about the native traditions of one of the most ancient peoples of Europe and examines the influences over the past three hundred years which have made of them a hidden and forgotten heritage. It presents a view of Irish history which, although not the established view of warring and essentially negative nationalisms, is yet an older and more deeply rooted one. -
“I fear that journalism’s role in the Ulster troubles has been, if not always fraudulent, intemperately clamorous, and sufficiently so to jade British palates, already
conditioned (as Seamus Deane points out in his essay Civilians and Barbarians) by the assumption “that the strife in Ireland is the consequence of a battle between English civilisation, based on laws, and Irish barbarism, based on local kinship, loyalties and sentiments.”
The jaded Englishman therefore feels harassed by the more authentic offerings of contemporary Irish (northern and southern) literature Among these are The Identity of Ulster by the admirable chronicler, Ian Adamson.”
Cal McCrystal - The Sunday Times
“An excellent study.” Sam Butler - Newsletter
“Une solution pour l’Ulster auteur, Ian Adamson, combat des mythes obstinés, comme celui qui voudrait assimiler Celtes et catholiques, et faire des Celtes les premiers habitants de l’Irlande. Ii rappelle que 1’Ulster avait toujours été different du reste de l’Ile, et que beaucoup de colons venus d’Ecosse au XVW siècle ne faisaient que revenir au pays de leurs ancétres je vois dans son livre une lutte contre des préjugés et une recherche d’une solution qui sont trés positives.
René Fréchet - Reforme (Paris) (Professor of Irish Studies,
Université de Paris III, Sorbonne Nouvelle)
a vigorous and compelling statement of a point of view which is, paradoxically, both epic and local. Adamson has a Yeatsian sense of the pagan past..., his work is remarkable for its manner of combining a profound attachment to place - that local and traditional piety we all feel - with an attitude of mind which is modern, nonsectarian and egalitarian . . .Adamson’s learning and generous humanity are very impressive. His reverence for art and culture, his sincerity and gentle populism, are everywhere evident in his wOrk.”
Tom Paulin - Fortnight
(Professor of Enlish Studies,
University of Nottingham)
“It is the best book on Ulster I’ve seen yet!”
Matthew T. Mellon, C.B.E., Ph.D.
(American historian and philanthropist,
former Lecturer, Faculty of Philosophy, J
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