Histories of the Irish Future

Histories of the Irish Future is an intellectual history of Ireland and a history of Irish crises viewed through the eyes of twelve key writers: William Petty, William Molyneux, Edmund Burke, Thomas Malthus, Richard Whately, Friedrich Engels, John Mitchel, James Connolly, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, Jeremiah Newman, Conor Cruise O'Brien and Fintan O'Toole. Their analyses of the shifting conditions of Ireland and their efforts to address Ireland's predicaments are located within the wider social, political, economic and cultural anxieties of their times. The result is a pioneering interdisciplinary contribution to modern Irish history and Irish Studies that will appeal to students of politics, economic history, and philosophy.

Bryan Fanning is Professor and Head of the School of Applied Social Studies at University College Dublin. His books include Racism and Social Change in the Republic of Ireland (2012), New Guests of the Irish Nation (2009), The Quest for Modern Ireland (2008) and, as co-author, The Books that Define Ireland (2014).