"This is a wonderful history of the complicated question of language in Ireland. Crowley begins with Henry VIII’s 1537 Act for English Order, Habit, and Language and follows the story for nearly 500 years. He examines the relationship between English and Irish as an aspect of the larger colonial situation, and situates the importance of debates over and policies pertaining to language within the context of Irish nationalism and identity."

Recommended by Eric Falci, Associate Professor of English and author of Continuity and Change in Irish Poetry, 1966-2010