Revisiting classic texts by writers such as Simone de Beauvoir, James Connolly and Paulo Freire, this book provides a series of rich reflections on the interaction between radical ideas and political action in Ireland.

Fiona Dukelow and Orla O'Donovan are Lecturers in the School of Applied Social Studies at University College Cork.

Introduction. Orla O'Donovan and Fiona Dukelow
1. Opening Up Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man. Bernadette McAliskey
2. Opening Up William Thompson's Practical Education for the South of Ireland. Eileen O'Carroll
3. Opening Up James Connolly's Labour in Irish History. Fintan Lane
4. Opening Up Robert Tressel's The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Rosie Meade
5. Opening Up Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex. Fiona Dukelow
6. Opening Up Thomas Szasz's The Myth of Mental Illness. Orla McDonnell
7. Opening Up Kwame Ture and Charles Hamilton's Black Power: The Politics of Liberation. Robbie McVeigh
8. Opening Up Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Mark Garavan
9. Opening Up Ivan Illich's Tools for Conviviality. Orla O'Donovan
10. Opening Up Adrienne Rich's On Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence. Tina O'Toole
11. Opening Up the Brundtland Committee's Our Common Future. Hilary Tovey
Concluding Remarks. Fiona Dukelow and Orla O'Donovan