First published in 1968, this remains a thought-provoking survey of the history of Ireland from the Act of Union of 1800 until modern times. The second edition, published in 1977, which is reprinted here, includes a chapter on the period 1968-73, taking in the early years of the troubles.

Published in 1977 and now reissued with a new introduction, this book serves well as a general, accessible interpretation of modern Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Described by its historian author Oliver MacDonagh (1924-2002) as a "very small book with very large themes," it rapidly reached the status of a classic and remains a thought-provoking survey of Ireland from the Act of Union of 1800, which MacDonagh describes as "the matrix of modern Irish history." until modern times. He describes with broad and perceptive strokes the traumatic experience of Ireland's being assimilated by, the resisting assimilation into, a powerful and alien empire. W.J. Mc Cormack is the author, most recently, of Roger Casement in Death. The Classics of Irish History series.