Powering the Nation ─ Images of the Shannon Scheme and Electricity in Ireland

Powering the Nation is the fascinating story of the greatest industrial initiative of the fledgling Irish Free State: the Shannon Hydroelectric Scheme. Lavishly designed, this visual history examines the construction of this mammoth of modern ingenuity and its symbolic power during the dawn of electrical technology in Ireland. In the 1920s, the Free State sought to harness electricity to step beyond the political nationalism of its painful revolutionary era and provide really change for its citizens, but their endeavours were not without resistance as a population that took pride in tradition were deeply suspicious of technology. Leading Irish design historian, Sorcha O'Brien, uses extensive archival research to exhibit the publicity drive from the ESB, Siemens and innumerable artists and tourist bodies to excite perceptions that would transform lifestyles and, inevitably, the Irish landscape. O'Brien expertly unveils the images behind the story: the technical drawings, Sean Keating's deeply emotive paintings, artists' lithographs and drawings, and boundless paraphernalia of photographs, postcards and cigarette packets. These exquisite materials provide key insights into Irish visual culture, making Powering the Nation a peerless social history that will appeal to anyone with an interest in engineering, art and design, or the defining moment in Irish state-building. [Subject: Irish Studies, Design, Art, Engineering, Social History, History]