March 2010

Using a huge variety of sources, Occasions of Sin charts the Irish sexual experience over the course of the 20th century. In tackling the public and private worlds of Irish sex, this book is groundbreaking in its scope and ambition. In this book, Ferriter covers such subjects as abortion, pregnancy, celibacy, contraception, censorship, infanticide, homosexuality, prostitution, marriage, popular culture, social life and the various hidden Irelands associated with sexual abuse - all in the context of a conservative official morality backed by the Catholic Church and by legislation. The book energetically and originally engages with subjects omitted from the mainstream historical narrative. The breadth of this book and the richness of the source material uncovered make it definitive in its field and a most remarkable work of social history.