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States of Ireland
Written in 1972 in the wake of Bloody Sunday and direct rule, States of Ireland was Conor Cruise O'Brien's searching analysis of contemporary Irish part-memoir, part-history, part-polemic.'If The Great Melody (1992) is O'Brien's major academic work, States of Ireland is the one that will endure as a vital moment in Irish intellectual and political history.' Roy Foster, Standpoint' States of Ireland [is] a book which influenced a generation. [O'Brien] saw that partition, while scarcely desirable in itself, recognized the reality of two different communities in the island, and that the Dublin state's formal irredentist claim on Northern Ireland was undemocratic and even imperialistic, as well as insincere. The republican ideology to which most Irish people paid lip service was a shirt of Nessus, he later "it clings to us and burns".' Geoffrey Wheatcroft, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
336 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 31, 1972
About the author
Conor Cruise O'Brien
61 books36 followersIrish politician, writer, historian and academic.
Member of the Irish Parliament for the socialist Labour Party.
Member of the Northern Ireland Forum for the United Kingdom Unionist Party, which advocated direct rule of Northern Ireland from London.
Virulently anti-IRA.
Member of the Irish Parliament for the socialist Labour Party.
Member of the Northern Ireland Forum for the United Kingdom Unionist Party, which advocated direct rule of Northern Ireland from London.
Virulently anti-IRA.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 11, 2012
The Cruiser was one of those rare things in Irish politics - an intellectual, an agnostic, not afraid to sacrifice sacred Irish cows in the pursuit of the truth, intellectually honest to both his constituents and the Irish people, and anything but a 'parish pump' politician. Ireland is the poorer for his death a couple of years back.
States of Ireland is part political polemic, part history and part family autobiography. His ultimate thesis, best described in the appendix (A speech he made against Sinn Féin in the early 70s) is one I had already agreed with thoroughly; that the Irish Republican movement, in its adoration of dead heroes and its contempt for democracy is in essence a fascist movement and an unmitigated evil. States of Ireland was written in the early 70s, right when the Irish Troubles seemed to be at its most electric, and when the path to full blown civil war seemed somewhat inevitable. There is a gloominess to this book, but also a rich vein of optimism. Above all, O'Brien was a rational man, and his insights are wonderful to behold. When an IRA man said he was militantly anti sectarian he was correct; Irish Catholics, if they think of Protestantism at all, don't see it as a fundamental affront to the Catholic faith. Many like to simplistically see Protestantism as a mechanism for Henry VIII to get through so many wives. These silly preconceptions ensured that Irish Catholics were genuinely unsectarian; Protestantism was just a byword for the 'enemy', a strange folk who deliberately provoked Catholics with weird marches and silly slogans.
Protestants on the other hand, were a people under siege following a religion that was fundamentalist by any measure. I liked his description of the two communities as being Jewish; the Catholic gaels thought of themselves as the sons of Israel, as did the Ulster Scot Presbyterian. A tragic state of affairs that was doomed to perpetuate a cycle of mutual division and mistrust. O'Brien is sensitive and highly knowledgable of the differences between the communities, and navigates the nuances with a fairness and intellectual honesty that must have been very rare indeed in 1970s Ireland.
States of Ireland is part political polemic, part history and part family autobiography. His ultimate thesis, best described in the appendix (A speech he made against Sinn Féin in the early 70s) is one I had already agreed with thoroughly; that the Irish Republican movement, in its adoration of dead heroes and its contempt for democracy is in essence a fascist movement and an unmitigated evil. States of Ireland was written in the early 70s, right when the Irish Troubles seemed to be at its most electric, and when the path to full blown civil war seemed somewhat inevitable. There is a gloominess to this book, but also a rich vein of optimism. Above all, O'Brien was a rational man, and his insights are wonderful to behold. When an IRA man said he was militantly anti sectarian he was correct; Irish Catholics, if they think of Protestantism at all, don't see it as a fundamental affront to the Catholic faith. Many like to simplistically see Protestantism as a mechanism for Henry VIII to get through so many wives. These silly preconceptions ensured that Irish Catholics were genuinely unsectarian; Protestantism was just a byword for the 'enemy', a strange folk who deliberately provoked Catholics with weird marches and silly slogans.
Protestants on the other hand, were a people under siege following a religion that was fundamentalist by any measure. I liked his description of the two communities as being Jewish; the Catholic gaels thought of themselves as the sons of Israel, as did the Ulster Scot Presbyterian. A tragic state of affairs that was doomed to perpetuate a cycle of mutual division and mistrust. O'Brien is sensitive and highly knowledgable of the differences between the communities, and navigates the nuances with a fairness and intellectual honesty that must have been very rare indeed in 1970s Ireland.
November 4, 2025
The inclusion of personal history and the author's role as a practicing politician make this book feel like an uncle giving lectures on modern Irish history, to paraphrase MacGowan.
Very prescient, and makes analysis and predictions that hold up more than 50 years after publication. Indeed in trying to determine the origin of a conflict it makes sense to understand contemporary views of its prelude, rather than try to tease out truth from post-hoc justifications and history written by winners. Some comments on the origin of the religious divide, famine, and education system conflict with more recent historiographies I have read but they are still reasonable and widespread opinions. Would have liked to hear more of the author's opinions on "the Orange State", but the author conceived of his work as a largely intramural exercise.
Very prescient, and makes analysis and predictions that hold up more than 50 years after publication. Indeed in trying to determine the origin of a conflict it makes sense to understand contemporary views of its prelude, rather than try to tease out truth from post-hoc justifications and history written by winners. Some comments on the origin of the religious divide, famine, and education system conflict with more recent historiographies I have read but they are still reasonable and widespread opinions. Would have liked to hear more of the author's opinions on "the Orange State", but the author conceived of his work as a largely intramural exercise.
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August 28, 2025If you’ve not read it, you don’t know what you’re arguing for or against when you talk about Northern Ireland. It’s not a matter of liking it or not.
August 20, 2007
Conor Cruise O' Brien was a rarity among Irish politicians - he had the ability to write well and dispassionately about Irish history and its influence on the situation in Northern Ireland. An excellent book, though possibly dated by now.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews