Ireland: A History [Hardcover]

Robert Kee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 8, 1980

This book is an examination of the "prison of Irish history", back to its very beginnings, to identify the principal groups involved in Ireland. It traces the emergence of each group and their links over the ages, establishing how past facts have bred present myths. Revised to cover the events of recent years, the book provides an insight into the country's current political situation, especially in light of the 1994 ceasefire agreement.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Fully updated to explore and explain the most recent events in Ireland's history, Robert Kee's classic work remains an essential survey of the country and its people. It is a superb introduction to the rich history that has made modern Ireland as well as a thought-provoking examination of how past facts have bred present myths. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Weidenfeld Nicolson Illustrated; Reprint. edition (December 8, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0297778552
• ISBN-13: 978-0297778554
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,084,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Primer on Ireland, September 18, 2001

By 

Anthony O. Miller - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ireland: A History (Paperback)

Robert Kee's "Ireland: A History" is, simply put, a fine introductory overview of modern Ireland. By "modern" I refer to the time from a bit before the Viking invasion (roughly 797 C.E.), through the Free State to the founding of the Republic and into "The Troubles" of today. For my money, the book's major flaw was its brief, superficial treatment of ancient Celtic Ireland. There is so much more to Ireland's Gaelic past than Kee covers that one will need other books to fill this gap. As a dual national -- I'm an Irish and a U.S. citizen -- I did not really "need" Kee's book to learn of modern or ancient Ireland, or the supplementary works I later bought to cover the pre-Viking material his "Ireland: A History" did not; I already knew a fair bit about this as a function of my birth. [A Dublin-born Irishman gave me Kee's book to read while I lived in Cyprus, where English-language books are very dear, and one reads what one may already have read or known to save money.] As a further note, ultra-Republican friends of mine scoff at what they characterize as Kee's "royalist/loyalist" leanings, dismissing out of hand anything he has to say as not quite "shamrock green" enough for a "True Republican" to be citing him as a source on anything Irish. I personally did not find Kee a propagandist for the Crown, so do not subscribe out of hand to this IRA carping. I can grouse, however, at Kee's or his editors' failure to state in which Dublin museum hangs the heartbreaking painting of "The Flight of the Earls," found on page 38 of the book. On one occasion, I'd sought out the painting in the National Gallery in Dublin, only to learn it hung in another museum -- which was closed the day I went after it. Notwithstanding this, in my humble opinion, for those not of Irish extraction or citizenship (or ultra-Republican bent), Kee's book is a good, easily readable, healthy introduction to the Emerald Isle. It is devoid of any blarney-sentimental cliches or slanderous stereotyping of the "glib, gab-gifted, Guinness-gulping" Irishman. And it pulls no punches at Britain's guilt for its arguably deliberate genocide of the Irish in the Great Famine of 1845-49 and those lesser ones that grass-stained starving Irish mouths and blood-stained the 19th century. But it will fill in only so many blanks in one's understanding of that ageless island and its early people, with their lost-in-mists religions, languages, superstitions, culture and monuments. Those wanting more will have to buy other works, such as Peter Beresford Ellis' "The Ancient World of the Celts," for instance. Overall, I found Kee's "Ireland: A History" a good survey course in Ireland, so much so that I bought it as a gift for a friend of Irish extraction, who'd developed a keen interest in tracing his own roots -- and in applying for Irish citizenship. On balance, Kee's book is worth the money and the read.
Anthony O'Neill Miller

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WONDERFUL HISTORY OF IRELAND,VERY EASY TO UNDERSTAND, May 13, 2002

By 

W. G. Ellis (MORROW , GEORGIA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ireland: A History (Hardcover)

THIS IS A VERY GOOD HISTORY OF IRELAND. IT TAKES YOU FROM THE EARLY BEGINNINGS TO THE PRESENT IN A FLOWING, INTERESTING WAY.
IT IS OBJECTIVE IN ITS DEALING WITH THE MANY INTERNAL PROBLEMS
IRELAND HAD AND STILL HAS WITH ENGLAND. IT IS A WONDERFUL WAY TO UNDERSTAND BOTH THE IRISH FEELINGS ABOUT INDEPENDENCE AND THE
FEELING THE BRITISH HAVE ABOUT THIS INDEPENDENCE. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.......

3 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, December 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Ireland: A History (Hardcover)

A wonderful piece of literature, which has already helped my A-Level studies