A History of Ireland (Essential Histories) Hardcover – January 1, 2001

This book is well written but begins too late in Ireland's history to be considered "a history of Ireland." I'd have liked to learn more about the Celts.

My husband and I are planning a trip to Ireland next year, so we wanted to learn about Ireland's history to better understand the country and its people. This book was easy to read and understand, providing the right amount of detail about events and people. Very informative. A great book about Ireland's history that I recommend to anyone with no, or little knowledge of Ireland's past.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in irish history. it is an excellent first read on the subject and takes a fair, thorough and well thought out approach to the many difficult issues in irish history. If you are already familar with irish history you will not find any new information here but for the begininer it is excellent.

I didn’t like how the author put a lot of blame on the Irish for the famine

On the plus side, this book is a good summary of Irish History from the time of the Norman conquest until 2000. It gave short but unbiased overviews of the Famine and Troubles, no easy task. On the down side, the prose is overly wordy and could have used a good edit. Phrases such as "urban cities" (Are the any other kind of cities?) , and repeated use of the word "regressive" for "repressive" stood out. Also some factual errors, eg. the Battle of the Somme did not start on 1 August 1916. Still a good read.

This is a wonderful introduction to Irish history. Don't expect lots of details on any particular subject as this is a fairly short book considering the scope of the topic (only about 250 pages). The author states in the preface that the goal is to introduce newcomers to Irish history, and in that it does a wonderful job. The focus is primarily on political history and stretches from prehistoric Ireland to the present day. There's a "Further Reading" section at the end of the book recommending a broad range of other books for those wanting more detail on specific aspects of Irish history.

This is a useful addition to a bookshelf as well as a quick read over the complex history of Ireland. If you want to quickly place the "Wild Geese" or Wolf Tone or Cromwell in a historical context it will prove an invaluable tool. Furthermore, the prose is readable and not bogged down with a mass of professional notes. I think that's the key, information is presented in the style and detail of the professional historian but without all the scholarly apparatus. The scholar ,seeking proper reference or in depth character and motivation, must look elsewhere. Be advised that there is weighting toward the nineteenth and twentieth century. There is some discussion of the famine and emigration, but only as part of the historical progression. For that and diaspora study The Great Shame is a better bet. Would I buy this book again? Yes. Why? it is a valuable reference tool. Does it captivate me as some histories do? No. Best advice I can give: decide why you might want it.

Find Ireland history fascinating. Really good easy to read book. Would recommend.