"This is a scholarly exploration of the writings of a group that is problematically titled, the term Anglo-Irish suggesting racial, religious, and class distinctions that are difficult to delineate. . . . [Grubgeld] focuses on the late 19th and early 20th centuries, paying special attention to works produced between World War I and the present. She aims to show the tremendous tension felt by writers attempting to create an identity in the face of an ‘accelerated feeling of rapid social transformation’—writers who were proud to call themselves Irish but might consider their Catholic tenants simian brutes. The figures covered include Elizabeth Bowen, Katherine Everett, W.B. Yeats, Lady Augusta Gregory, Mary Pakenham, Violet Powell, G.B. Shaw, and others. Contemporary female readers will find the emphasis on women’s autobiographies especially compelling."—Library Journal
