Ireland's Field Day

Five leading writers contribute to a lively, discursive and provocative debate on arts and politics in Ireland, in search of a middle ground between the country's entrenched positions. Their voices combine in powerful unison to observe and analyze the current Irish situation in the light of the country's history. They seek -- consciously and with conviction -- to exploit the traditional connection between Irish literature and politics, for the sake of the idea of a new Ireland whose long-awaited birth is imminent. Professor Thomas Flanagan responds to these stimulating discourses in an afterword written specifically for American readers.