Whatever Europe might have done to help produce the Celtic Tiger, has it helped or hindered Northern Ireland over the difficult past quarter-century?
The titles of these books* give a not-too-cryptic indication of the general approach. Living with the European Union as a description of Northern Ireland's 28 years within the EU suggests more a matter of survival than a romantic idyll, and so it is.
This is neither a Eurosceptic blast nor a dewy-eyed view of the Euro-bounty, but a serious academic examination of what being in the EU has meant for one small region.
A collection of nine essays, generated by the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen's University, it seeks to place Northern Ireland as a region within a Europe undergoing "regionalisation", using it as a test case of the EU's capacity, and willingness, to take regions seriously. Its chapters cover the economic impact, the rural economy, trade and investment, the environment, the social impact, public opinion and Europe, and the Northern Ireland problem.
How does Europe score? Not terribly well. Within the EU Northern Ireland has had economic growth but has also seen the near-disappearance of the linen and shipbuilding industries, severe manufacturing decline and sharp contraction heading towards disaster in farming.
The period of EU membership coincides almost exactly with the Troubles. This overlap makes it more difficult than it already would be to measure accurately the economic impact of membership, but it is hard to disagree with the conclusion that economic and social problems have not faded away within a "benign European ambience".
Has Europe helped bring peace to Northern Ireland, if that is what we now have? Many think it has.
Quintin Oliver sees a very helpful "Europeanisation" of aspects of Northern Ireland through the importation of ideas, attitudes and approaches from the EU, particularly the development of what he calls the concept of civil dialogue to fill the political vacuum, and the implementation of the partnership principle.
Dennis Kennedy gives short shrift to any idea that the EU has agonised over Northern Ireland, or made any major effort to help economically or politically. He points out that the first significant funding programme designed to aid reconciliation was not authorised until 1995, more than 20 years after accession had brought the Troubles within the boundaries of the EU.
This is not portrayed as a grievous fault on the part of the EU, rather as evidence that the Union was not designed to cope with such a problem. In short, the EU as it was designed, and still operates, offers no panacea for the problems of Northern Ireland, or any other region. This collection is a valuable contribution to our understanding of both Northern Ireland and the European Union.
The forging in Forging an Identity has more to do with fraudulent invention than with metalworking. This slim, elegantly produced volume should help blow sky-high the Irish Association's image - if it still persists - of polite, middle-class people embracing political correctness at every turn. These essays should produce whoops of delight and cries of anguish in equal measure.
Some contributors deal with religion and its role in forging identities, and with the concepts of Ireland as they have appeared in more recent history. This is a sparkling collection of short essays waging guerrilla warfare on the humbug, cant and bad history that have made us what we are.
* Living with the European Union: The Northern Ireland Experience, edited by Dennis Kennedy, Macmillan, £20stg; and Forging an Identity: Ireland at the Millennium, the Evolution of a Concept, also edited by Dennis Kennedy, The Irish Association, £4 (£3.50stg)
Steven King is an adviser to David Trimble, Northern Ireland's First Minister and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party