This collection of essays by a wide range of leading historians explores the significance of several major events and some leading personalities within the broad chronological parameters of this momentous decade in modern Irish history. These include the impact of British press support for Edward Carson's Ulster Volunteers; the wartime and peacetime experiences of Somme soldiers; the impact of Dublin's Rising on northern republicans; and the role of the Boundary Commission in determining the nature of border communities. The fascinating lives of a number of individuals who were closely involved in these crucial events - including the Rev. J.B. Armour, the Rev. John Redmond and Lady Craigavon - are also explored. This collection highlights the major effect which political and constitutional change, often fuelled by communal unrest, had upon the future stability of the new Northern Irish society. This timely publication by Ulster Historical Foundation is dedicated to the memory of three outstanding historians - Jonathan Bardon, George Boyce and Éamon Phoenix - who sadly passed away in 2020 and 2022.

Edited by Alan F. Pakinson and Brian M. Walker, the contents of the book include:

1 James Brown Armour: Irish Presbyterian minister and Home Ruler revisited - the case for a re-examination of Armour and his role, RICHARD MCMINN

2 Friends in Fleet Street: British press support for Ulster's anti-Home Rule campaign, 1912-14, ALAN F. PARKINSON

3 Beyond the Somme: Northern Ireland's Great War ex-servicemen, RICHARD S. GRAYSON

4 The Easter Rising and Belfast republicanism, JAMES MCDERMOTT

5 Ulster unionism and the Irish Convention, 1917-18, NEIL C. FLEMING

6 Combating the 'flu': Regional responses to the 1918-19 influenza pandemic in Ulster, PATRICIA MARSH

7 Rev. John Redmond, vicar of Ballymacarrett: Army chaplain, peace maker and temperance advocate, BRIAN M. WALKER

8 The USC and the formation of the Northern Ireland state, 1920-22, BRIAN BARTON

9 The life and career of Denis Henry (1864-1925): An Irish political misfit: Catholic unionist politician and first Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, ÉAMON PHOENIX

10 The Swanzy riots: Lisburn, 1920, CHRISTOPHER MAGILL

11 Perceptions of the king's visit to Belfast, 22 June 1921, HEATHER JONES

12 Lady Cecil Craigavon and the reclamation of history, DIANE URQUHART

13 The Boundary Commission and border minorities, CORMAC MOORE