The Course of Irish History [Paperback]

T. W. Moody (Author), F. X. Martin (Author), Dermot Keogh (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1589790022 | ISBN-13: 978-1589790025 | Publication Date: December 21, 2001 | Edition: Fourth Edition

Agreement and the withdrawal of British troops from regular patrols in Northern Ireland, this new edition of a perennial bestseller narrates and interprets Irish history as a whole.

Designed and written to be popular and authoritative, critical and balanced, it has been the core text in both Irish and American universities for three decades. It has also proven to be an extremely popular book for casual readers with an interest in history and Irish affairs and is considered the definitive history among the Irish themselves. Chapters are grouped together by century or by general time period, ranging from prehistoric Ireland to the present, and each has been written by an English or Irish historian specializing in that area.

This edition of the book has been revised and enlarged and is illustrated throughout with line drawings, black and white, and color photographs. It is an essential text for anyone interested in the history of Ireland.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Much Irish history is written as a matter of heroes and leaders, of great personalities and sweeping events. T. W. Moody and F. X. Martin's collection of essays by leading historians offers all those things, but it takes the land itself as its starting point. Ireland, they write, has always been poor because of its ungiving soil; always isolated because of its ring of imposing mountains and steep hills--but always open to invasion from the east across the calm, narrow Irish Sea, because of which, they write, "our present-day laws and institutions have their origins in England." While taking a long view of events, they manage to compress thousands of years of history into this fact-filled, highly readable book. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From Library Journal

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day comes a revised edition of this benchmark volume. Moody and Martin, professors at Dublin's Trinity and University colleges, respectively, compiled the work of 21 scholars into this history that LJ's reviewer labeled "authoritative, balanced, fair-minded, and beautifully written" (LJ 11/1/67). This updated version takes the material up to 1992. Essential for all Irish history collections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Roberts Rinehart; Fourth Edition edition (December 21, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589790022
• ISBN-13: 978-1589790025
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #164,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good overview, August 17, 2001

By 

Scholar "18th century student" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Course of Irish History (Paperback)

Having studied Irish history in grad school, I found myself coming back to this book over and over for a quick, easily readable general overview of irish history, written (well) by scholars but in a fashion accessible to all readers. It sounds trite to say, but if you only read one general book on the history of Ireland, this should be the one!

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great overview of Irish History!!, October 5, 2001

By 

Kristi McKeown - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Course of Irish History (Paperback)

This is the first book I've read which gives a concise and yet broad view of Irish history. It gives a short essay on every major time period and event since the beginning of Irish History. I liked the format of the book with several different authors contributing. I also liked the detail timeline at the back of the book that covered everything even those events/people which did not get mentioned in any other part of the book. A good starting point for anyone interested in Irish History or the relationship between Ireland and Great Britain.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Introduction to a difficult history, June 5, 2006

By 

Jorge I. Villanueva (Phoenix,Az) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Course of Irish History (Paperback)

I was looking for a good book on the history of the Irish people. I bought a book about the IRA thinking that their history will be helpful but soon found out i had to get a more simpler book that will give me an introduction to Ireland history.In other words, history for someone who needs to start from scratch.That's when i tried this book and struck gold.This book is simple,clear and concise.It goes thru irish history step by step explaining the important events that shaped that history.For example,the account of how England became involved in Ireland is very clear and precise.From that moment on the authors do a very good job of explaining the PM's different policies toward Ireland. As the book approaches the 20th century it is still clear to understand the different forces that interact because the authors describe the events in a clear way.The only flaw that i saw in this book was that the authors dont really explain much of the origins of the terms like Sinn Fein and Fianna Fial.We dont know what they mean.But again very good intro to a history that needs a lot of explaining.