Description
Book SynopsisJustin Keating, son of the artist Sean Keating, attended UCD and TCD. He was a Labour Party politician (Minister for Industry 1973-77), academic, journalist, veterinary surgeon, television pioneer (as Head of Agricultural Broadcasting at RTE) and award-winning documentary filmmaker. In later life he served as Member of the European Parliament and became president of the Humanist Association. President Michael D. Higgins called him ‘a man who saw socialism as both essential and adaptable to change’. Keating introduced the first substantial legislation for the development of Ireland's oil and gas, set up the National Film Studios of Ireland at Ardmore and gave impetus to Kilkenny Design. He wrote extensively – and with opinions well ahead of his time – on the natural world, including women’s health, animal welfare, sustainable energy and ecology. ‘A well made, fit thoroughbred really striding out seems to me one of the most beautiful things on earth, on a par with an orchid or porpoise.’ Edited posthumously by his wife, Barbara Hussey, Justin Keating’s notebooks offer an in-depth, often-impassioned account of the interests, musings and opinions of one of Ireland’s most wide-ranging intellectuals. His dealings with J.D Bernal, Noël Browne, Sean McBride, Charles Haughey, Gerry Fitt and Conor Cruise-O’Brien, form part of this absorbing chronicle, aside from myriad friendships with writers and artists. Nothing Is Written in Stone is a brilliant selfportrait of this multi-dimensional man, who did so much to shape twenty-first century Ireland.
Trade ReviewThe work is a personal testimony. -- Barry Sheppard * The Irish Story *
That [Justin Keating] remained willing to change is clear from this illuminating chronicle of a singular and fulfilling life. Barbara Hussey edited these extracts from her husband’s notebooks with the astute collaboration of Anna Kealy. Together they have succeeded, as John Boorman writes in his affectionate preface, in giving Justin a voice beyond the grave. -- Alex White * The Irish Times *
Absorbing tale reliving a political odyssey. -- Deirdre Conroy * The Independent *
Table of ContentsAcorns to Oaks- On Education; The Godless Institution- On Marxism; Snake and Ladders- Women Religion and Sexuality; Genesis Vs Gaia- Care of the Earth; Ireland's Future- Entering Irish Politics; Doubt is the Mother of Wisdom- Zionism; The Future of the Left- Globalization and Democracy; Loves, Loss and Leavetaking.
