Reinventing Modern Dublin

Streetscape, Iconography and the Politics of Identity

Part 1 Unravelling the cultural geographies of landscape
- interrogating the cultural landscape. Part 2 City of empire, site of resistance
- representing empire
contested identities and the monumental landscape
naming Dublin - imperial power, nationalist resistance. Part 3 A capital once again - reinventing post-independence Dublin
- symbolizing the state - planning, power and the architecture of nationhood
scripting public memory - the power of public monuments
removing icons of empire
street naming and nation building in Dublin
the power of space - towards a postmodern iconography.

"in the transformation from thesis to published book Ms Whelan has succeeded in transforming the appeal from the academic to the general reader."
Bookview Ireland June 2003

"text, balanced and elegant, explores imperial power, nationalist resistance and finally postmodern iconography and the drift towards the apolitical."
Books Ireland Sept 2003

"This ambitious book explores the complexity, dynamism and ambiguity of both Irish self-identity and Ireland's relationship with Britain through a detailed investigation of the historical and cultural geography of Dublin's cityscape from the 18th to the 20th century. For anyone interested in Dublin, this landmark work should be a must read, but it should also be on the reading lists of anyone interested in the meaning and experience of the monumental urban landscape, and especially how this meaning and experience can change over time."
Landscape Studies 29 (1) 2004

"Whelan's book is a major contribution to the understanding of Dublin's public landscapes. It explores Dublin's streetscape as a symbolic landscape, shaped through and imbricated in the representation and imaginative construction of national identity."
Cultural Geographies 12 2005

"offers a solid, informative overview of the evolution of civic decoration from colonialism through nationalism in Ireland's capital city ... much of the cityscape is richer for me having encountered this work."
Irish Literary Supplement Spring 2006