Women and the decade of commemorations arrives during the decade of centenaries in Ireland, to remember and ‘offer fresh insights and constructive dialogue’ about the events which took place from 1912 to 1923. Drawing on the 2016 centennial commemoration programme held at Maynooth University, this book investigates and engages with the concepts of commemoration and memory through the lens of women's lives. Throughout, editor Oona Frawley and contributors work to examine women and the decade of commemorations as a ‘corrective to the national conversation’ and ‘to consider the ways in which the decade of centenaries had the potential to limit discussion and debate about events and commemorations perceived to lie outside of its remit’ (p. vii). Readers are asked to join in this critical reflection on how and why we discuss and remember Ireland's revolutionary period and where women fit in this process.

In sixteen chapters covering topics including studies of women's experiences during the First World War, the Irish suffrage campaign, the Civil War and the ‘Troubles’; diasporic remembrance; historical sources and museum exhibitions; and prior commemorations, this book succeeds in its remit of ‘counter(ing) oblivious remembering in the Decade of Commemorations’ (p. 1). While Ireland is not unique in navigating the challenges of commemoration, and narratives of national identity are built on what and how societies remember, as Frawley also reminds readers, references to ‘Irish cultural memory is neither monolithic nor monumental; instead – like any body of cultural memory – it is shifting and changing’ (p. 6). To avoid this ‘monolithic’ trap, Frawley outlines useful questions considered by contributors including ‘what narratives would be promoted at national and all-island levels, and how would these conflict with or function alongside more local endeavours to commemorate’ and ‘how would commemorations on this island relate to international commemorative contexts?’ (p. 1). This line of questioning offers a clear example of the care taken in this book to capture the wide variety of female experiences shaping the national identities of Northern Ireland and the Republic.

What makes this book so compelling is the deliberate placement of Ireland's contested revolutionary period within a broader historical context. This is most obvious in the variety of topics covered but it is also through the recognition and continual connection of the past with the present. As Laura McAtackney argues, ‘Researchers of Irish history have long acknowledged that commemorations of historical events are as much to do with the contemporary understanding (and uses) of the past as they are with what actually happened during the events being commemorated’ (pp 57–8). Readers benefit from the diversity of academic disciplines and experiences of the contributors, who, together, offer not just a worthwhile study of the variety of female experiences during the revolutionary period, but of the post-revolutionary period too. With dedicated chapters covering the Irish diaspora and women's diasporic remembrance alongside chapters related to the Northern Irish Troubles, we gain an insight into the ways in which women's experiences during the revolutionary period did not operate in a vacuum, reached beyond Ireland, and continue to shape present-day understandings and relationships. Other chapters on memory, commemoration and the ‘ordinary’ experiences of women, together with chapters on visual and material culture and exhibiting, round out the analysis by challenging dominant cultural memory and underlining the importance of evaluating how we remember, what sources we use in that process and the narratives that shape our collective memory.

The deliberate choices made throughout to include a wider range of topics and time periods compels readers to reconsider the legacies of revolutionary and post-revolutionary Ireland and where those legacies begin and end. As such, Women and the decade of commemorations appeals to interests beyond Ireland through its focus on the broader impact of Ireland's revolutionary period on women's lives and the processes of memorialising and commemorating. This varied investigation moves this field of study beyond traditional narratives and temporalities, allowing readers to challenge their own assumptions and reflect on how and why we study the past and what new connections we can make with our evidence.

Books like this are an invaluable resource for reminding us that we must place women and their varied contributions on the historical record alongside other narratives to understand revolutionary Ireland in full. Women and the decade of commemorations’ scrutiny of the events 100 years on is a welcome addition to the expanding body of scholarship on women's lives in the Great War and the Irish revolutionary and post-revolutionary periods. And as Maeve Casserly reminds us, ‘projects such as this volume … show that there is still a wealth of research to be done and books to be written’ (p. 239). Hopefully, this book will inspire others to continue to move the field of studies forward.