Book description
In 1991, Ireland was in the midst of a devastating recession;
thousands of young Irish men and women had emigrated over the previous
decade, and divisive social and moral debates on abortion and divorce
had rocked Irish society. The great pillars of society - politics and
religion - were beginning to crumble, a process that continued in
subsequent years as both institutions were hit by scandal. A
questioning of the values on which Ireland had been built had begun,
with an apparently unbridgeable divide opening between
"traditionalists" and "modernizers". At the start
of the decade, the modernizers appeared to have won, with the election
as President of the iconic Mary Robinson.
Irish Times columnist John Waters captured the zeitgeist of
the time with the hugely successful Jiving at the Crossroads,
which sold over 50,000 copies. A defining book of the era, its success
was partly due to its remarkable blending of social/cultural
commentary with personal memoir. At the emotional core of the book was
the relationship between John and his father, and the story of Ireland
was intricately woven into this powerful narrative. It was the first
in a long line of books to question the very notion of modern Irish
identity, and to examine the deep-rooted tensions at the heart of the
Irish psyche.
Twenty years later, much has changed in Ireland, and yet Jiving
at the Crossroads remains a deeply resonant book, particularly
in the light of the remarkable rise and precipitous fall of the Celtic
Tiger, and the fresh questioning of how we got where we are now. This
twentieth anniversary reissue of a landmark book, with a new
Afterword, will be welcomed by those who remember it, and will be a
fascinating insight for a new generation of Irish people.
John Waters has been a respected columnist with
The Irish Times
for over twenty years. As well as
Jiving at the Crossroads
(Blackstaff, 1991) his books include
Race of Angels: Ireland and the
Genesis of U2
(Blackstaff/Fourth Estate, 1994);
An Intelligent Person's Guide to
Modern Ireland
(Duckworth, 1997); and
Feckers: 50 People who Fecked Up Ireland
(Constable, 2010).
