How should we commemorate the past? What are the potential benefits and dangers? How does commemoration relate to history? Contemporary Ireland, north and south, was founded in the decade 1912-1923. From the signing of the Ulster Unionists' Solemn League and Covenant to the partitioning of the country and subsequent Civil War in the Irish Free State, a series of events shaped Ireland for the century to come. Towards Commemoration features essays by leading historians, journalists and civic activists debating how to make the most, and avoid the worst, of the centenary decade.