A Short History of Ireland

Rating:
Summary: A Short History of Ireland
Review: "Short Histories" are hard to write. You can be criticised by virtually all sides: it was very short, it left out something, it was biased towards some specific group, or it gave more attention to culture than to politics, for example. That being said, I was amazed by this book. Ranelagh is a fine writer indeed and he is able to keep it short, interesting, and accurate. And in the case of Ireland, that's a lot! Very fun to read, it is perfect for anyone - if you don't know anything about Ireland or you want to have a condensed history of the Emerald Island. I strongly recommend this one.

Rating:
Summary: A Short History of Ireland
Review: "Short Histories" are hard to write. You can be criticised by virtually all sides: it was very short, it left out something, it was biased towards some specific group, or it gave more attention to culture than to politics, for example. That being said, I was amazed by this book. Ranelagh is a fine writer indeed and he is able to keep it short, interesting, and accurate. And in the case of Ireland, that's a lot! Very fun to read, it is perfect for anyone - if you don't know anything about Ireland or you want to have a condensed history of the Emerald Island. I strongly recommend this one.

Rating:
Summary: So much history so close to home
Review: Ranelagh does a fantastic job of condensing a couple thousand years of history into a readable couple hundred pages. This book is a first-rate shortened version of Irish history.

At times, one thinks more and deeper connections could have been drawn (such as the resurrection, by twentieth century hunger-strikers, of Brehon Law-era practices like fasting for the redress of grievances) and more discussion fostered on particularly hard-hitting aspects of Ireland's past and present. But this is, after all, a SHORT history, and a remarkable one at that.

There is good coverage of Ireland before the arrival of the English, in a way that touches on both historical developments and cultural ones. Likewise, the era of Cromwell and the disastrous run-up to and aftermath of Black 1847 are given good detail. One comes away feeling a bit as though more recent history (say, 1916 and on) has been slighted, but this feeling is probably just the product of years of weighted emphasis on the twentieth century; Ranelagh does well to bring a historical balance to the overall sweep of Ireland's development into what it is today.

And what it is today is, for Ranelagh, closely invested as well in the question of what England is and no longer is. "A Short History of Ireland" may disturb those who view England as a still-unwelcome visitor into Irish history and culture, but Ranelagh concludes convincingly that the story of Ireland from the 13th century on is intimately related to its evolving relationship with its slightly larger neighbor and one-time persecutor/antagonist. Ranelagh quite usefully and realistically departs from other histories of the Emerald Isle in asserting that the England/Ireland relationship can, for a slew of reasons that he points to, only ever be one of co-dependence.

Rating:
Summary: So much history so close to home
Review: Ranelagh does a fantastic job of condensing a couple thousand years of history into a readable couple hundred pages. This book is a first-rate shortened version of Irish history.

At times, one thinks more and deeper connections could have been drawn (such as the resurrection, by twentieth century hunger-strikers, of Brehon Law-era practices like fasting for the redress of grievances) and more discussion fostered on particularly hard-hitting aspects of Ireland's past and present. But this is, after all, a SHORT history, and a remarkable one at that.

There is good coverage of Ireland before the arrival of the English, in a way that touches on both historical developments and cultural ones. Likewise, the era of Cromwell and the disastrous run-up to and aftermath of Black 1847 are given good detail. One comes away feeling a bit as though more recent history (say, 1916 and on) has been slighted, but this feeling is probably just the product of years of weighted emphasis on the twentieth century; Ranelagh does well to bring a historical balance to the overall sweep of Ireland's development into what it is today.

And what it is today is, for Ranelagh, closely invested as well in the question of what England is and no longer is. "A Short History of Ireland" may disturb those who view England as a still-unwelcome visitor into Irish history and culture, but Ranelagh concludes convincingly that the story of Ireland from the 13th century on is intimately related to its evolving relationship with its slightly larger neighbor and one-time persecutor/antagonist. Ranelagh quite usefully and realistically departs from other histories of the Emerald Isle in asserting that the England/Ireland relationship can, for a slew of reasons that he points to, only ever be one of co-dependence.

Rating:
Summary: Solid Effort But Sometimes Short on Detail
Review: This was the second book that I have read on Ireland. I am creating a "listmania" list on Irish history and politics. I think this gives lots of detail but also it is a bit short and disjointed. So do not stop with this single book if you want to learn about Irish history and politics. But it is a good start.

There are a number of good points about this book. It is 300 pages long, covers many subjects, and it is printed in a small font plus it has an excellent 7.5 page bibliography and a nice map. Also the tone is mainly neutral and it acts as a guide. It does not promote one side or the other in the history.

One thing I did not like in this book is that the early history of Ireland is skipped over pretty quickly. For example just barely into the book we are at page 43 where the author starts with a chapter on the Tudors and Cromwell.

Also, Ireland is not large so I was looking for a little more clarity and understanding at a finer level but that was missing. That is why I will continue to look for more books. The book tends to jump back and forth in time and one gets confused with names, dates, and places - which can be complicated in Ireland. But it paints a fairly complete general picture from around 1600 to 2000.

Ireland has complicated religious and social past with three basic competing religions, different languages, and the close proximity to England. The latter was a world power and viewed Ireland as a troublesome local colony. To complicate the history it has many people from many different backgrounds and countries from the Mediterranean, France, Germanic Nations, England, Scotland, the Nordic Countries some of which are also Germanic etc all mixed in and integrated over 2000 plus years with the ancient Celts from Roman times. The book does a good job of trying to pull all these social and religious groups together in a coherent story.

I thought the book did a credible job in explaining some of the basic problems in Ireland. Ireland was a colony of England and as such was burdened with restrictive trade practices forced on it by England. One limitation was on wool exports in the 1700 and 1800 hundreds. Also, during the famines of 1845-50 (quite incredibly) we read that Ireland remained a net food exporter while over one million starved to death - possibly as high as one in six. Finally the land was terribly mismanaged in an attempt to control the society while the predominant group, the Catholics, suffered terrible discrimination and hardship. One can understand why the IRA was born to rid Ireland of England, as did the US over 100 years earlier, and why the independence movement was supported by both Catholics and Protestants.

Good book with lots to learn.

Jack in Toronto