Includes bibliographical references (pages 457-478) and index.

Part I. In search of the rabble -- Opening the witness accounts -- Who owned the revolution? -- The history wars -- The fighting stories -- Closing young minds? -- Keepers of the revolutionary flame -- Broadening the interpretations and the sources -- New scepticisms, new revisions and the shadow of the Troubles -- Labour, gender and the social perspective -- The politics of peace and the twenty-first century perspective -- Part II. Revolutionary Ireland, 1913-23 -- An evolving nationalism -- Ulster prepared with one voice? : 1910-14 -- Labour, nationalism and war : 1913-16 -- 1916 : an idea "essentially spiritual"? -- The perfect patriots -- 1917-18 : bonfires and ballots -- War of Independence (1): 1919-20 : catching the waves -- The chivalrous soldier and the cruel killer -- Governing, social realities and justice -- Land for the people? -- War of Independence (2): 1921-2 : the juggernaut of politics -- Truce and treaty -- The drift to civil war -- Civil war -- Stone hearts -- Ulster's wounded self-love -- The tyranny of the "special" -- Part III. Legacy and commemoration -- "In danger of finding myself with nothing at all" -- "For the life of my heroic son" -- Homes fit for heroes? -- Scrambling for the bones of the patriot dead -- "He knew as much about commanding as my dog" -- Commemoration during the troubles and the peace process -- Remembering the First World War and welcoming the Queen -- Invoking revolutionary ghosts as the Celtic tiger dies and Fianna Fáil collapses -- New commemorative priorities, sacred cows and the status of history 397.

"Renowned Irish historian Diarmaid Ferriter presents a new look at the Irish revolutionary period from 1913-1923, drawing from newly available historical sources as well as the testimonies of the people who lived and fought through this extraordinary period. Packed with violence, political drama and social and cultural upheaval, the years 1913-1923 saw the emergence in Ireland of the Ulster Volunteer Force to resist Irish home rule and in response, the Irish Volunteers, who would later evolve into the IRA. World War One, the rise of Sinn Fein, intense Ulster unionism and conflict with Britain culminated in the Irish war of Independence, which ended with a compromise treaty with Britain and then the enmities and drama of the Irish Civil War. Drawing on an abundance of newly released archival material, witness statements and testimony from the ordinary Irish people who lived and fought through extraordinary times, A Nation and not a Rabble explores these revolutions. Diarmaid Ferriter highlights the gulf between rhetoric and reality in politics and violence, the role of women, the battle for material survival, the impact of key Irish Unionist and Republican leaders, as well as conflicts over health, land, religion, law and order, and welfare"--From publisher.