We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland is an Irish author and journalist Fintan O'Toole's personal history of Ireland from 1958 to the modern day. O'Toole was born in Ireland in 1958 and witnessed the country change dramatically. It was in 1958 that the young people in Ireland began to leave the country. Frantic and upset at this change. And as a result, the Irish government opened up their country to increased immigration and other foreign investment. As a result of these changes, O'Toole shows how Ireland changed from what he called a "Catholic backwater" to a free and open society. O'Toole also examines how "the Troubles," or the Irish Civil War, and the collapse of the Catholic fundamentally changed the country and its people. O’Toole’s book is deeply personal, but also provides a hard look into the factors that made Ireland what it is.
We Don't Know Ourselves was one of the biggest-selling and most positively reviewed books of 2022. For example, the New York Times called it one of the best books of 2022 and wrote a glowing review of O'Toole's book. Similarly, in their favorable evaluation fo the book, The Wall Street Journal reported that "Fintan O’Toole’s tour through Ireland’s modern history is a barbed love letter from a writer to his country—contradictions and all."
