Conor Cruise O'Brien's penetrative reading of Albert Camus, Nobel laureate and author of L'Etranger and La Peste, was originally published in 1970.'O'Brien's Camus is brilliant. While having been himself profoundly moved by Camus's work, he asks why students have so often misinterpreted him.' Marghanita Laski, The Times'[Camus] displays O'Brien's cultivated intelligence at its most joyous pitch, and . . . demonstrates his unique critical talent . . . [O'Brien] demonstrates that Camus was far from being an exemplar of the truly independent intellectual and that his conception of "Mediterranean culture" served to legitimise France's possession of Algeria . . . O'Brien's prose has a sweet rigour as he first explores Camus's sense of estrangement and unreality, and then places his work within a social context.' Tom Paulin, Times Literary Supplement

Camus (Modern masters)

O'Brien, Conor Cruise

Fontana

"All my life," writes Conor Cruise O'Brien, "I have been fascinated and puzzled by nationalism and religion; by the interaction of the two forces, sometimes in unison, sometimes antagonistic." In these wide-ranging and penetrating essays, O'Brien examines how throughout the world today these age-old forces are once again threatening democracy, the rule of law, and freedom of expression -- particularly in the United States, the nation founded on Enlightenment values. He weaves together beautifully written discussions on these and other timely, related topics. Enlivening his grim predictions with dry wit, he nevertheless conveys an apocalyptic sense of the threats facing democracy as we approach the third millennium.

On the Eve of the Millenium: The Future of Democracy Through an Age of Unreason

History

Americas

Free Press

A series on essays of nationalism, religious conservatism, and political correctness

On the Eve of the Millennium: The Future of Democracy in an Age of Unreason

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Written in 1972 in the wake of Bloody Sunday and direct rule, States of Ireland was Conor Cruise O'Brien's searching analysis of contemporary Irish nationalism: part-memoir, part-history, part-polemic.'If The Great Melody (1992) is O'Brien's major academic work, States of Ireland is the one that will endure as a vital moment in Irish intellectual and political history.' Roy Foster, Standpoint'States of Ireland [is] a book which influenced a generation. [O'Brien] saw that partition, while scarcely desirable in itself, recognized the reality of two different communities in the island, and that the Dublin state's formal irredentist claim on Northern Ireland was undemocratic and even imperialistic, as well as insincere. The republican ideology to which most Irish people paid lip service was a shirt of Nessus, he later wrote: "it clings to us and burns".' Geoffrey Wheatcroft, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

States of Ireland,

Politics & Government

Hutchinson

Herod, reflections on political violence

Parnell and His Party, 1880-1890

Clarendon Press

Statesman, political thinker, orator, and ardent campaigner, Edmund Burke was one of the most brilliant figures of the eighteenth century. This unorthodox biography focuses on Burke's thoughts, responses, and actions to the great events and debates surrounding Britain's tumultuous relationships with her three colonies—America, Ireland, and India—and archrival France. "In bringing Burke to our attention, Mr. O'Brien has brought back a lost treasure. The Great Melody is a brilliant work of narrative sweep and analytical depth. Conor Cruise O'Brien on Edmund Burke is a literary gift to political thought."—John Patrick Diggins, New York Times Book Review "Serious readers of history are in for a treat: a book by the greatest living Irishman on the greatest Irishman who ever lived. . . . O'Brien's study is not merely a reconstruction of a fascinating man and period. It is also a tract for the times. . . . I cannot remember another time when I finished a book of more than 600 pages wishing it were longer."—Paul Johnson, The Independent "The Great Melody combines superb biography and fascinating history with a profound understanding of political philosophy."—Former President Richard Nixon

The Great Melody: A Thematic Biography of Edmund Burke

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

University of Chicago Press

Scholar and statesman Conor Cruise O'Brien illuminates why peace has been so elusive in Northern Ireland. He explains the conflation of religion and nation through Irish history into our own time. Using his life as a prism through which he interprets Ireland's past and present, O'Brien identifies case after case of the lethal mixing of God with country that has spilled oceans of blood throughout this century of nationalism and that, from Bosnia to Northern Ireland, still curses the world. "O'Brien's bravura performance [is] seductive in its intellectual sweep and literary assurance."—Toby Barnard, Times Literary Supplement "Has the magical insistence which Conor Cruise O'Brien can produce at his best. . . . Where he looks back to his own childhood the book shines. He writes of his mother and father with effortless grace and candor, with a marvelous, elegant mix of affection and detachment."—Observer

Ancestral Voices: Religion and Nationalism in Ireland

Religion & Spirituality

As controversial and explosive as it is elegant and learned, The Long Affair is Conor Cruise O'Brien's examination of Thomas Jefferson, as man and icon, through the critical lens of the French Revolution. O'Brien offers a provocative analysis of the supreme symbol of American history and political culture and challenges the traditional perceptions of both Jeffersonian history and the Jeffersonian legacy. "The book is an attack on America's long affair with Jeffersonian ideology of radical individualism: an ideology that, by confusing Jefferson with a secular prophet, will destroy the United States from within."—David C. Ward, Boston Book Review "With his background as a politician and a diplomat, O'Brien brings a broad perspective to his effort to define Jefferson's beliefs through the prism of his attitudes toward France. . . . This is an important work that makes an essential contribution to the overall picture of Jefferson."—Booklist "O'Brien traces the roots of Jefferson's admiration for the revolution in France but notes that Jefferson's enthusiasm for France cooled in the 1790s, when French egalitarian ideals came to threaten the slave-based Southern economy that Jefferson supported."—Library Journal "In O'Brien's opinion, it's time that Americans face the fact that Jefferson, long seen as a champion of the 'wronged masses,' was a racist who should not be placed on a pedestal in an increasingly multicultural United States."—Boston Phoenix "O'Brien makes a well-argued revisionist contribution to the literature on Jefferson."—Kirkus Reviews "O'Brien is right on target . . . determined not to let the evasions and cover-ups continue."—Forrest McDonald, National Review "The Long Affair should be read by anyone interested in Jefferson—or in a good fight."—Richard Brookhiser, New York Times Book Review

The Long Affair: Thomas Jefferson and the French Revolution, 1785-1800

Historical

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by O'Brien, Conor Cruise. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by O'Brien, Conor Cruise

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by O'Brien, Conor Cruise. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Camus (Modern masters)

On the Eve of the Millenium: The Future of Democracy Through an Age of Unreason

On the Eve of the Millennium: The Future of Democracy in an Age of Unreason

States of Ireland,

Herod, reflections on political violence

Parnell and His Party, 1880-1890

The Great Melody: A Thematic Biography of Edmund Burke

The Great Melody: A Thematic Biography of Edmund Burke

Ancestral Voices: Religion and Nationalism in Ireland

The Long Affair: Thomas Jefferson and the French Revolution, 1785-1800