Volatile Substance

History is constantly evoked to justify present political positions or to understand and interpret current events. But this is never a simple matter. This book contributes to the recurring public debate about the intrusions of past trauma, conflict, and discord into the controversies of the present. Exhuming Passions is an interdisciplinary collection of writings by highly esteemed Australian and Irish scholars about the different ways in which the past is remembered and contested in Ireland and Australia. The book deals with highly topical issues, such as the ways in which war is remembered and commemorated; governmental apologies for harms done by previous generations or governments; film and literature constructs of the past; and, not least, the responsibility of scholars for recording and interpreting truths about the past.