THE ONGOING PRESENT : A CRITICAL LOOK AT THE SOCIETY AND WORLD IN WHICH I GREW UP - MCGREIL, MICHEAL *****

Jesuit, soldier, academic, trade unionist, social radical, lifelong Irish Language promoter, friend of the Travellers, National Chaplain of Pax Christi, advocate for the revival of the Western Rail Corridor from Limerick to Sligo, campaigner for the restoration of the Mamean shrine on the Maamturk Mountains, pilgrimage leader, Pioneer chairman - Father Micheal Mac Greil SJ, born in County Laois and reared in County Mayo, has led a long, full and fascinating life.Probably best-known for his ground-breaking research on changing Irish attitudes and prejudices, he is the author of Prejudice and Tolerance in Ireland (1977), Prejudice in Ireland Revisited (1996) and Pluralism and Diversity in Ireland (2011), and he lectured in Sociology at NUI Maynooth for twenty-five years. In his memoir, Dr Mac Greil weaves together his own life with his view of the major events of each decade in Ireland, and in the wider world. Beautifully written, the author is at times gentle and nostalgic and at other times fiercely political and radical. A truly unique and personal look at the micro and macro history of the past eighty-three years.