Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Myth of the Ulster-Scots

"...The greatest of the myths is that of the non-existence of the Ulster Scots as a separate people with a distinguished history and rich traditions. Lip service is paid by British and Irish politicians to the idea of a Protestant cultural identity, usually by a polite mention of the Twelfth of July as a folk festival; no attempt is made to probe beneath the cultural surface..."

Rory Fitzpatrick wrote that, 21 years ago in his book God's Frontiersmen - the Scots-Irish Epic (Weidenfield & Nicholson, London 1989) p 274. It's almost a prophetic observation and it still applies today. The Twelfth is a fine day out, but as I've written before, there's far far more to our heritage than just one day in July.

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God's Frontiersmen is out of print and very hard to find, so click here to see if any are currently available on Abebooks.com

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