Ireland

Ireland in the twentieth century has had a very different history from that of most other western European countries. The two most profound shocks of the century, the world wars, met Ireland obliquely rather than head-on. Partition and civil war, on the other hand, were embittering experiences felt at first hand, the legacies of which snake their course through its subsequent history. How did the Irish 'revolution' come about and what was its nature? How did Ulster end up with the rich irony of being the only part of Ireland to embrace Home Rule? How well did the new Republic's promise of freedom assuage the painful reality, until the 1960s, of low economic growth and persistent emigration? Why was the Northern Ireland state unable or unwilling to conciliate its minority Catholic population? These are among the many issues addressed in Charles Townshend's masterful account, one in which, to use the words of a reviewer of an earlier work of his, 'outstanding coolness, judiciousness and flair' combine with penetrating powers of analysis.It is the first account to cover the whole of Ireland, north and south, from the origins of Sinn Fein at the beginning of the century to the Stormont agreement at the end.

'A marvel of compression and balance.' Brian Farrell '...reflects wide reading and reflection...[Townsend's] treatment is the ideal starting point.' English Historical Review '...combines impressive, and unobtrusive, scholarship with refreshing insight and more than fulfills its stated purpose of making the work of the latest generation of historians more widely accessible.' Irish Review 'A fascinating in-depth look at the country that went from colony in 1900 to economic dynamo by the advent of the 21st century...Coogan has done a masterful job of taking a very complicated history and making it lively reading.' Publisher's Weekly

Charles Townsend, Professor of International History, University of Keele, UK