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Product Description
Product Description
A history of Ireland from 1600 to 1972; an account not only of the events themselves but also the way in which those events acted upon the peoples living in Ireland to produce an 'Irish Nation'; a description of that nation's tragedy and resilience.
About the Author
R. F. Foster is Carroll Professor of Irish History at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford. His books include The Irish Story and W. B. Yeats: A Life.
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First Sentence
WHEN DOES MODERN Irish history begin? Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
WHEN DOES MODERN Irish history begin? Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
46 of 51 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Interested to learn more about a country I have visited many times and may well be seeing a lot more of in the near future, I picked this off the shelf as the best of the options available to me.
It's extremely well written and comprehensively covers the whole of modern Irish history in a balanced and authoritative way.
If I have one criticism, it is sometimes somewhat heavy going; if I can add another, in some places it assumes knowledge which the reader may not have. Although I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about modern history, it's precisely becaase I don't know about the history of Ireland that I bought and read the book, and a little more explanation in some places would have been welcome.
But that said, (and unless anyone knows better) I would certainly recommend this to anyone with a serious desire to learn more about Irish history from someone who, unusually it seems, is keen to explain it without pushing an agenda at the same time.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If a day is a long time in politics- what about four hundred years? Can any author- no matter how authoritative or knowledgeable really discuss the complexities of any nations history in seven hundred pages. Surely the turbulent history of Ireland is even more confusing than many other nations. The cast of players in that history numbers hundreds of significant names- to give even half of them the credit they deserve would at least double the size of the book.The authors solution is to have footnotes with extremely condensed biographies on most of the pages.
It is perhaps only a historian with the prowess and global encyclopedic knowledge of Professor Foster that could attempt such a tome. And whilst many might criticize the academic legitimacy of trying to summarize such a lengthy period in one volume- the attempt both to do so and perhaps show the history as one of a repetition of old errors is worthy. However, this book is not an easy read for many reasons.Firstly, the depth and complexity of information in every paragraph, yet alone chapter, means that it frequently requires rereading. The amount of personalities mentioned means an almost immediate requirement to check footnotes at the bottom of the page or several pages previously- if you've forgotten who they are. Thirdly, I really don't think that anyone without a very good prior grounding in Irish history could properly read, yet alone enjoy the book.
However the most notable part of the book is the clearly revisionist tendencies of the author. This is not necessarily a bad thing- since the history of Ireland is all too frequently polarizing. However, all too often I found myself disagreeing with the author and finding that he minimized the sense of national grievances- say about the famine or Cromwell whilst magnifying British grievances. In doing so, I feared for the unbiased objectivity of the work.
I have no qualms about strongly recommending this book, but the thoughtful reader should probably read other history books to obtain a better and more balanced view of the frighteningly enigmatic nature of the history of Ireland.
It is perhaps only a historian with the prowess and global encyclopedic knowledge of Professor Foster that could attempt such a tome. And whilst many might criticize the academic legitimacy of trying to summarize such a lengthy period in one volume- the attempt both to do so and perhaps show the history as one of a repetition of old errors is worthy. However, this book is not an easy read for many reasons.Firstly, the depth and complexity of information in every paragraph, yet alone chapter, means that it frequently requires rereading. The amount of personalities mentioned means an almost immediate requirement to check footnotes at the bottom of the page or several pages previously- if you've forgotten who they are. Thirdly, I really don't think that anyone without a very good prior grounding in Irish history could properly read, yet alone enjoy the book.
However the most notable part of the book is the clearly revisionist tendencies of the author. This is not necessarily a bad thing- since the history of Ireland is all too frequently polarizing. However, all too often I found myself disagreeing with the author and finding that he minimized the sense of national grievances- say about the famine or Cromwell whilst magnifying British grievances. In doing so, I feared for the unbiased objectivity of the work.
I have no qualms about strongly recommending this book, but the thoughtful reader should probably read other history books to obtain a better and more balanced view of the frighteningly enigmatic nature of the history of Ireland.
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