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Fintan O'Toole

@fotoole.bsky.social
12K followers 502 following 108 posts

Writer, Irish Times columnist, New York Review of Books contributor, We Don't Know Ourselves author.

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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I'll be preaching at St Martin in the Fields tomorrow evening www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/whats-on/her...
stmartin-in-the-fields.org
Here I Stand: Fintan O’Toole – St Martin-in-the-Fields
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The New York Review of Books @nybooks.com · 24/09/2026
“Roy Cohn is a creature from the depths of the American political imagination, too pure in his utter malignity to be entirely credible, too potent in his continuing consequence to be safely interred in the past.” —@fotoole.bsky.social
nybooks.com
Devils in America | Fintan O’Toole
Toward the end of his biography of Roy Cohn, written with his wife, Susan Goldmark, Kai Bird quotes the editor and publisher Jason Epstein: “In a way,
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This U2 origin story is brilliant www.irishtimes.com/podcasts/sto...
irishtimes.com
Drummer Seeks Musicians: the story of how U2 began
Róisín Ingle uncovers the making of Ireland’s biggest band
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
Fintan O'Toole: The new map of Earth is a wake-up call for Ireland
On the Equal Earth map, Ireland suddenly looks a lot more northernly and a lot less central - no longer the much-vaunted ‘island at the centre of the world’
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The New York Review of Books @nybooks.com · 17/09/2026
Our 10/8 issue is now online, with @fotoole.bsky.social on Roy Cohn, Anahid Nersessian on the middle-aged manosphere, Jerry Brown on nuclear apocalypse, Frances Wilson on the Lambs, Ariel Dorfman on Vargas Llosa’s last, @rachelbnolan.bsky.social on mass protest, and much more.
nybooks.com
October 8, 2026 Issue
Table of Contents
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The New York Review of Books @nybooks.com · 18/09/2026
“Roy Cohn is a creature from the depths of the American political imagination, too pure in his utter malignity to be entirely credible, too potent in his continuing consequence to be safely interred in the past.” —@fotoole.bsky.social
nybooks.com
Devils in America | Fintan O’Toole
Toward the end of his biography of Roy Cohn, written with his wife, Susan Goldmark, Kai Bird quotes the editor and publisher Jason Epstein: “In a way,
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
nybooks.com
Devils in America | Fintan O’Toole
Toward the end of his biography of Roy Cohn, written with his wife, Susan Goldmark, Kai Bird quotes the editor and publisher Jason Epstein: “In a way,
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Head of Zeus @headofzeus.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
'At once fierce, raw, tender and transcendent, She Died Young is book that had to be written and therefore has to be read' @fotoole.bsky.social #SheDiedYoung, the harrowing & inspiring memoir of Academy Award-winner Brenda Fricker. Pre-order now: geni.us/SDYPBorgsoc
Book cover featuring a black and white photograph scene from one of Brenda Fricker's acting roles where she is cradling a woman. Blue banner below reads: "She Died Young: A Life in Fragments" by Brenda Fricker. Endorsements from Graham Norton and Fintan O'Toole are also present.
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☔️⚡️Emily Cross 💜🌛 @emilycross.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
At this point I buy @irishtimes.com purely for @fotoole.bsky.social articles. Another brilliant article linking 9/11 Jihadists with the manosphere and their shared commonality of wanting to control women. Someday these need to be compiled into books www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
Fintan O'Toole: The jihadists who inspired 9/11 have something horrible in common with Donald Trump
The deep roots of this barbaric assault on Americans lie in the same hatred of women that is now embedded in American reactionary politics
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Sinéad Gleeson @sineadgleeson.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“If you live and work and pay taxes here, there’s an ever-tougher obstacle course. But if you’re Irish in a vaguely genetic sense, come into the parlour, there’s a welcome here for you”. @fotoole.bsky.social on the two routes to Irish citizenship and the racism therein. archive.is/dcddi
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From the Other Side of the Mirror @jt1anglais.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Terrific piece from the righteous @fotoole.bsky.social www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
nybooks.com
Devils in America | Fintan O’Toole
Toward the end of his biography of Roy Cohn, written with his wife, Susan Goldmark, Kai Bird quotes the editor and publisher Jason Epstein: “In a way,
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Vati @xxxvatikinsxxx.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
After hearing @fotoole.bsky.social talking on Empire pod with @anitaanand.bsky.social and @willdalrymple.bsky.social I bought We Don’t Know Ourselves. And I used to think events described in Father Ted were outrageously implausible. A wonderful, detailed, account of a world of contradictions.
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Join us for this discussion in Dublin 6 pm tomorrow. www.tcd.ie/trinitylongr...
tcd.ie
A Conversation on American Politics with Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and Fintan O'Toole
A leading progressive politician from the U.S. and Ireland's foremost public intellectual will discuss recent trends in American politics, organised by the School of Histories and Humanities.
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Annie West @anniewestdotcom.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
In case you missed it. The charming, brilliant, funny, adorable, erudite @fotoole.bsky.social (with my wee cartoon! Squeeee!) during the fantastic Joseph Hassett lecture at the @nlireland.bsky.social youtu.be/G6HefKdky7s?...
youtu.be
Joseph Hassett Lecture 2026 | WB Yeats: National Pride and National Vanity - Fintan O'Toole
YouTube video by National Library Ireland
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Annie West @anniewestdotcom.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Squeeeeeeee! (again) thanks @fotoole.bsky.social #TheYeatsTest
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
theguardian.com
The Brexit Effect, 2016-2026 edited by Anthony Seldon review – life without EU
Essays by the great and the good address the legacy of Brexit, but ignore the nationalist elephant in the room
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John Reed @johnreedwrites.ft.com · 08/07/2026
Read this absolutely fantastic @FT deep dive on Palantir and its CEO Alex Karp, by my colleagues @chriscook.news @georgehammond.bsky.social and Alex Rogers as.ft.com/r/1b34df7a-4...
as.ft.com
The price of Palantir’s politics
Pushback to the tech group’s politics may threaten the core of its $330bn business
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Daniel Paisner @danielpaisner.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
"It is this flood of provocation, atrocity, self-dealing and fabrication that makes #Haberman and #Swan ’s counternarrative so vital." - @fotoole.bsky.social @nytbookreview.bsky.social #RegimeChange #maggiehaberman #jonathanswan @simonandschuster.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/b...
nytimes.com
‘We Need Plot Twists’: Behind the Scenes of Trump’s Second Term
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Nick Fuller @nickfbrit.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
On our trip around rural Ireland, much of my reading has been this. @fotoole.bsky.social is the very best of guides; his writing is always incisive but in this book it's frequently revelatory too. Fantastic.
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Led By Donkeys @ledbydonkeys.org · 23/06/2026
Exactly 10 years since the Brexit vote, the verdict is in.
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
Fintan O'Toole: Brexit launched a new era of the politics of ‘not even wrong’
Golden age promised by the Vote Leave campaign proved to be 100 per cent pyrite
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The New York Review of Books @nybooks.com · 23/06/2026
Steve Hilton’s “British career had been largely about wrapping hard-right ideas in touchy-feely niceness,” writes @fotoole.bsky.social. “Silicon Valley…would want to do the same thing in reverse, ditching its ‘Don’t be evil’ credo for the joy of being evil.”
nybooks.com
Cloudbusting in California | Fintan O’Toole
Just over twenty years ago, in April 2006, British media gave generous space to film and photographs of a sled hauled over a vast expanse of snow by a
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
I'll be giving the Yeats birthday lecture at the National Library in Dublin on Wednesday. All welcome. www.nli.ie/exhibitions-...
nli.ie
WB Yeats: National Pride and National Vanity | Joseph Hassett Lecture 2026
Delivered by writer Fintan O’Toole
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Jeff Goodell @jeffgoodell.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
The great @fotoole.bsky.social poses a question that has haunted every truth-seeking journalist during the Trump years: "What can journalists do in a world where there is no shame and, apparently, no consequence?" www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/b...
nytimes.com
‘We Need Plot Twists’: Behind the Scenes of Trump’s Second Term
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Alan Stedman @alanjstedman.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
One of the best written and informative books I have ever read is Fintan O'Toole's, 'We don't know ourselves - a personal history of Ireland since 1958' The section on the Hunger strikes is harrowing, gripping and very enlightening Treat yourself to a copy @fotoole.bsky.social
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The aftershocks of Brexit’s failure could be gaining strength – a fearful prospect for Ireland | Fintan O’Toole
On our side of the Irish Sea we have made the best of a bad job. But we saw the damage a reckless British government could do, says Fintan O’Toole
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Seán Costello @seanjcostello.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
‘A delightful praise-song for both the Bard and the geniuses who labour to give his “local habitation and a name” a new postal address and a novel appellation.’— @fotoole.bsky.social #translation
observer.co.uk
Shakespeare without borders | The Observer
Daniel Hahn’s If This Be Magic reveals the ingenious art of the great playwright’s translators
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Tessa Szyszkowitz @tessaszy.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
😊🙏🏻 @annettedittert.bsky.social & @fotoole.bsky.social
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/b...
nytimes.com
‘We Need Plot Twists’: Behind the Scenes of Trump’s Second Term
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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
One detail in this fascinating BBC investigation into the Russia-instigated attack on Keir Starmer's home is the way it shows, in passing but very clearly, that Tommy Robinson is to all intents and purposes a Russian asset. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Russia was behind arson attacks targeting PM, BBC reveals
Evidence shows Russians directing the plot and stoking tensions with fake far-right and Muslim groups.
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Dylan, on life in your 80’s, is incredible. @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/06/14/o...
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Annie West @anniewestdotcom.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
#YeatsDay With grovelling apologies to @fotoole.bsky.social @nlireland.bsky.social
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George Harrison Archive @harrisonarchive.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Happy birthday to Anoushka Shankar! “…George Harrison, whom Anoushka refers to as ‘Uncle George.’ ‘He says he’s the president of my fan club,’ Anoushka giggles.” - Associated Press (1998) More at harrisonarchive.tumblr.com/post/8189602....
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The New York Review of Books @nybooks.com · 07/06/2026
“Trump’s constant reference to the idea that the world has nothing better to do but sit around and laugh at America is not incompatible with American exceptionalism—it is a kind of backhanded compliment to it.” —@fotoole.bsky.social
nybooks.com
Gulliver’s Warning | Fintan O’Toole
Like Gulliver in Lilliput, “greatness” in the political realm depends on the existence of a group deemed puny or weak.
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Brent Staples @bstaples.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
“The great appear great because we are on our knees. Let us rise”: a timely essay by his Irishness @fotoole.bsky.social on the project of imperialism and national vanity as lampooned in “Gulliver’s Travels.” www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
nybooks.com
Gulliver’s Warning | Fintan O’Toole
Like Gulliver in Lilliput, “greatness” in the political realm depends on the existence of a group deemed puny or weak.
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
www.nybooks.com/online/2026/...
nybooks.com
Cloudbusting in California | Fintan O’Toole
Just over twenty years ago, in April 2006, British media gave generous space to film and photographs of a sled hauled over a vast expanse of snow by a
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The New York Review of Books @nybooks.com · 05/06/2026
“When greatness is evoked as the natural condition of the nation, equality is humiliation. Because greatness can be measured only by comparison, it cannot exist on the level.” —@fotoole.bsky.social
nybooks.com
Gulliver’s Warning | Fintan O’Toole
Like Gulliver in Lilliput, “greatness” in the political realm depends on the existence of a group deemed puny or weak.
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joeboruchow.bsky.social @joeboruchow.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Reading @fotoole.bsky.social on “contemporary sublime politics.” He articulates much of what I was thinking when making the cutout, “Lilliputian Men and Root Bound Plants” in 2024
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The New York Review of Books @nybooks.com · 04/06/2026
Our 6/25 issue is now online, with @dchiasso.bsky.social on writing away from AI, Meghan O’Gieblyn on raising AI, Geoffrey Wheatcroft on Labour’s losses, @mmschwartz.bsky.social on the purloined papyrus, @fotoole.bsky.social on the president’s “greatness,” and much more.
nybooks.com
June 25, 2026 Issue
Table of Contents
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
www.themorgan.org/programs/per...
themorgan.org
2026 | Ulysses in Performance: An Evening with Elevator Repair Service and Fintan O'Toole | Performance | The Morgan Library & Museum
James Joyce’s Ulysses has fascinated, perplexed, scandalized, and defeated readers for over a century. Now, Elevator Repair Service (ERS), known for its inventive stagings of modernist classics like G...
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Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies @ndirishstudies.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
ICYMI: “For and Against a United Ireland,” a book commissioned by @arinsproject.bsky.social, received the Ewart-Biggs Prize earlier this spring. Authors @fotoole.bsky.social and @sjamcbride.bsky.social also spoke to packed crowds on a U.S. tour. 👉 Read more: irishstudies.nd.edu/news/for-and...
Fintan O'Toole, left, and Sam McBride at The Chicago Club on March 12, 2026.Fintan O'Toole, left, and Sam McBride at the Irish Arts Center in New York on March 14, 2026.Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Emma Little-Pengelly speaks at the University of Notre Dame's Washington Office on March 16, 2026, for an event featuring the Washington Ireland Program's new class and the authors of "For and Against a United Ireland."Washington Ireland Program alumni Aoife Joy Keogh, left, and Luke Teggert, right, moderate an event with "For and Against a United Ireland" authors Sam McBride and Fintan O'Toole at the University of Notre Dame's Washington Office.
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
nybooks.com
Gulliver’s Warning | Fintan O’Toole
Like Gulliver in Lilliput, “greatness” in the political realm depends on the existence of a group deemed puny or weak.
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Sam McBride and I will be at Hinterland in Kells on June 28th. www.hinterland.ie/p-669-fintan...
hinterland.ie
Fintan O’Toole & Sam McBride - Hinterland Festival of Literature & Arts
Fintan O’Toole & Sam McBride
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Sam McBride and I will be talking about a United Ireland in Armagh tomorrow evening as part of Jaipur Ireland. lflitfest.org/ireland/schedule
lflitfest.org
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Myles Dungan @mylesdungan.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Tickets for 2026 Hinterland Fest now on sale at www.hinterland.ie Guests include @mcculld.bsky.social @miriamocal.bsky.social @fotoole.bsky.social @sjamcbride.bsky.social @cwallacedublin.bsky.social @patrickfreyne.bsky.social @edelcoffey.bsky.social @liznugent.bsky.social @rusbradburd.bsky.social
hinterland.ie
Hinterland Festival Kells 25 - 28 June 2026
Hinterland is an annual multi-disciplinary arts festival based in the spiritual home of the Book of Kells. Join us for events running from 25 - 28 June 2026
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Nessan Vaughan @nessanvaughan.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Happy 82nd birthday to thus extraordinary woman! impact.universityofgalway.ie/articles/mar...
impact.universityofgalway.ie
Mary Robinson: Trailblazer for Global Justice and Human Rights - Cois Coiribe
Cois Coiribe is University of Galway’s online publication, highlighting the views and opinions of some of the university’s top academics and researchers.
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
If you happen to be in Oxford tonight I'll be giving the Isaiah Berlin lecture at 6 pm www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/event/2026-b...
wolfson.ox.ac.uk
2026 Berlin Lecture - Wolfson College
Launched in 1990 to celebrate the 80th birthday of the College's Founding President, Sir Isaiah Berlin, the Berlin Lecture is in his own field of study, the history of ideas.
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Am incredibly chuffed to have been longlisted for @privateeyenews.bsky.social 's Paul Foot awards for investigation into Labour Together and APCO A real coup for a tiny outlet like Democracy for Sale So good to see such great stories nominated too. 😀 www.private-eye.co.uk/paul-foot-aw...
private-eye.co.uk
The Paul Foot Award | Private Eye
The Paul Foot Award is an award given for investigative or campaigning journalism, set up in memory of revered journalist Paul Foot, who died in 2004.
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Fintan O'Toole @fotoole.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
www.irishtimes.com/podcasts/ins...
irishtimes.com
Fintan O’Toole: 100 years on, Fianna Fáil is flailing
Inside Politics podcast with Hugh Linehan
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