LAUSR

somebody who crawled out of a sewer” (99). This sentiment was again expressed by the equally brave playwright Gary Mitchell who, almost half a century later, was greeted with a similar barrage of criticism in the form of loyalist paramilitary attacks on his home and family (187–188). “There’s no structure to it and it’s very individual,” Mitchell said of the coercion directed towards him, “and this has always been the problem with the Protestant community” (34). There is little evidence to suggest that this thuggish disposition has dissipated. Instead, it continues to thrive in the sewers of ignorance Sam Thompson first spoke out against half a century ago. Parr deserves credit for not shying away from such putridity, alongside the much more introspective and redemptive trappings of the Ulster Protestant psyche. Inventing the Myth is unquestionably the product of many years of painstaking reading and reflection, a rarity amongst the vast splurge of books on Northern Ireland. This is something that must be saluted. Crammed full of original insight for scholars and students keen to rediscover the lost world of the Ulster Protestant imagination, Connal Parr has given us an indispensable addition to the very best scholarship on the intersection of culture and politics in this troubled part of the world.