A Short History of Ireland

by John Ranelagh

This is an updated edition of John O'Beirne Ranelagh's standard introductory account of the history of Ireland, reissued in a revised and extended second edition in 1995. While world-wide interest in Ireland has increased greatly in recent years, attention has focused on violence. with the result that discussion has been dominated by the troubles in Northern Ireland. This book covers the full sweep of Irish history from the earliest times up to President Clinton's second visit to Ireland in 1998, in the wake of the Omagh bomb and the surrounding peace initiatives. Throughout, the author's aim is to cast light on the people and the events which have contributed to Irish society, in both North and South.

448 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2012

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it. Clearly covering that much history in just a few hundred pages is hard and the book raised more questions for me than it answered. No, it answered a bunch of questions I didn't know I had then left me with a load more other questions!

[John T. Hickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ranelagh has compressed the history of Ireland, including all the peoples, individuals, movements, and events, with reference to archaeological sources, chroniclers, and the historical record, into 425 pages. As far as I can tell from my previous reading, he has got it right, honestly and briefly, without fear or favor, assigning responsibility appropriately to the British-- 'over the centuries of increasingly powerful and centralised British government, ruling social and political pressures combined first to make Irish people feel and then to believe that they were inferior. This is one of the worst things than any nation or race can do to another' (Preface to 1st ed.)--and to the Irish-- 'Terrorism will not leave Irish history: it is imbedded in it.'