W. B. Stanford lived through the transition of the south of Ireland from the United Kingdom to the Republic. A member of the Irish Senate for 20 years, he epitomised the change of outlook of those whose background had been Southern Unionist.

He was a participant in many of the controversial issues in the 1950s and 1960s, such as the Fethard boycott of Protestant businesses and the take-over of the Meath Hospital by the Knights of Columbanus, which can now be seen as turning points towards the creation of a pluralist society in Ireland.

In these autobiographical reflections he deals with the attitude of minority and majority in those formative years for the Republic of Ireland.