Book excerpt: The fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising has been held responsible for many things. "Transforming 1916" explores the meaning and memory of the Easter Rising anniversary through parades, statues, pageants, television programs, exhibitions and documentary film. It argues that the fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising was not, in fact, an unrestrained celebration of Irelands past but represented instead an attempt to convey a message of modernization and economic progress.