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Kearney's work has brilliantly illuminated, from a distinctive comparative perspective, Anglo-Irish relations over several centuries. Ireland collects his seminal articles, framed by historiographical reflections on his unique experience of 'doing history' in four countries: Ireland, England, Scotland, and the United States.
— J. J. Lee, New York University

What is the Irish nation? Who is included in it? Are its borders delimited by religion, ethnicity, language, or civic commitment? And how should we teach its history? These and other questions are carefully considered by distinguished historian Hugh F. Kearney in Ireland: Contested Ideas of Nationalism and History.

The insightful essays collected here all circle around Ireland, with the first section attending to questions of nationalism and the second addressing pivotal moments in the history and historiography of the isle. Kearney contends that Ireland represents a striking example of the power of nationalism, which, while unique in many ways, provides an illuminating case study for students of the modern world. He goes on to elaborate his revisionist four nations approach to Irish history.

In the book, Kearney recounts his own development in the field and the key personalities, departments, and movements he encountered along the way. It is a unique portrait not only of a humane and sensitive historian, but of the historical profession (and the practice of history) in Britain, Ireland, and the United States from the 1940s to the late 20th century-at once public intellectual history and fascinating personal memoir.

Hugh F. Kearney is Amundson Professor Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, where he taught from 1975 to 1999. He has also taught at universities in Dublin and Sussex and at Edinburgh, where he was Richard Pares Professor of history from 1970-75.