Conor Cruise O'Brien

Conor Cruise O'Brien (3 November 1917 – 18 December 2008) was an Irish politician, writer, historian and academic.
Conor Cruise O'Brien's many books include: his picture of the politics of polarisation States of Ireland (1972), The Great Melody (1992), his unorthodox biography of Edmund Burke and his Memoir: My Life and Themes (1998). He also published a collection of essays, Cunning and Passion (1986), which includes a substantial piece on the literary work of William Butler Yeats and some challenging views on the subject of terrorism. Perhaps his most controversial work is The Siege (1989), a sympathetic history of Zionism and the State of Israel. His books, particularly those on Irish issues, tend to be very involved and personal such as States of Ireland where he made the link between the political success of the republican Easter Rising and the consequent demise of his Home Rule family's position in society. His private papers have been deposited in the University College Dublin Archives.
He was a long time columnist for the Irish Independent and his articles were distinguished by hostility to the 'peace process' in Northern Ireland, regular predictions of civil war in the Republic of Ireland and a pro-Unionist stance. In 1963, O'Brien's script for a Telefís Éireann programme on Charles Stewart Parnell won him a Jacob's Award