High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Conor Cruise O`Brien (3 November 1917 – 18 December 2008) often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish politician, writer, historian and academic. Although his opinion on the role of Britain in Northern Ireland changed over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, he always acknowledged values of, as he saw, the two irreconcilable traditions. O`Brien`s outlook was radical, yet the positions he took were not orthodox; he was interested in the progress of South Africa, and in later years took a pro-Israel stance. He summarised his position as "I intend to administer a shock to the Irish psyche".