Passion and Cunning - and Other Essays

Conor Cruise O'Brien's brilliant and hugely controversial 1965 essay on the political convictions of W. B. Yeats is the title-piece for this superb 1988 collection of pieces on politics, religion, nationalism and terrorism. 'O'Brien is a man of strong views, and he writes with verve and wit. Agree with him or not, one reads him with enjoyment.' Foreign Affairs '[ Passion and Cunning ] displays once again [O'Brien's] wonderful range of talents: a beautiful command of the language, gentle wit and coruscating satire, shrewd political judgment and a raking critical power. O'Brien is, moreover, a critic against all-comers, his spiky guns pointing in all directions: woe betide anyone incautious enough to presume that O'Brien is on their 'side'. . . O'Brien believes in all manner of good causes, but his own independence is finally what he cares about most.' R. W. Johnson, London Review of Books

Product details

• Authors: Conor Cruise O'Brien
• Assisted by: Oliver Kamm (Introduction), Kamm Oliver (Introduction)
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.04.2015
• EAN: 9780571325009
• ISBN: 978-0-571-32500-9
• No. of pages: 384
• Dimensions: 129 mm x 198 mm x 27 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Main work before 1945; Politics & government, Politics and government, Literary essays, Yeats; politics; religion; nationalism; terrorism; essays