Customer Reviews

Ireland in the Twentieth Century

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A thorough, highly detailed account of the current history of Ireland, especially political. While an extremely long book (750+ pages not counting indices) and you have to get used to Coogan's writing style that no sentence shall be less than 50 words long with multiple phrases embedded), this is an excellent account of the evolution of modern day Ireland. Coogan knows the internal political scene well and gives considerable weight to detailing it. This tends to take away somewhat from the readability since as a North American, I'm not familiar with the multitude of names that I'm sure are second nature to an Irishman like Coogan. Nevertheless, I feel that I came away with a better understand of how the Irish situation has developed and it did give me new and better background in which to frame my thinking. Recommended reading but only for true, non-fiction, history buffs.

If you're looking for a comprehensive history of modern Ireland: you've found it! Coogan is thoroughly knowledgeable in this area and any reader who makes it through the book leaves with concrete answers to much of Ireland's modern history. However, Coogan is also a rather tedious writer and the massive book can be a lot to swallow. Incredibly informative but I do suggest digesting the book in bite size pieces!

A thorough, highly detailed account of the current history of Ireland, especially political. An extremely long book (750+ pages not counting indices) and you have to get used to Coogan's writing style that no sentence shall be less than 50 words long with multiple phrases embedded. This is an excellent account of the evolution of modern day Ireland. Coogan knows the internal political scene well and gives considerable weight to detailing it. This tends to take away somewhat from the readability since as a North American, I'm not familiar with the multitude of names that I'm sure are second nature to an Irishman like Coogan. Nevertheless, I feel that I came away with a better understand of how the Irish situation has developed and it did give me new and better background in which to frame my thinking. Recommended reading but only for true, non-fiction, history buffs.

Coogan has done it again, he has produced a fantastic book about Ireland in the 20th century. I do think an update to include the financial crisis of 2008-2010 once it fully works itself out would be welcomed. The story is meaty in all the right parts! Bravo!