Two particular dates dominate popular imaginings of Dublin: 16 June 1904 when James Joyce and Nora Barnacle first walked out together; and Easter Monday 1916, when Pearse and Connolly led a small force against the British and began the struggle that led through civil war to independence for part of Ireland. Siobhn Kilfeather finds the legacy of the past undergoing a series of transformations in the vibrant atmosphere of contemporary Dublin.