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Churchill and Ireland 1st Edition
| Paul Bew (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Distinguished historian of Ireland Paul Bew now, at long last, puts this right. Churchill and Ireland tells the full story of Churchill's lifelong engagement with Ireland and the Irish, from his early years as a child in Dublin, through his central role in the Home Rule crisis of 1912-14 and in the war leading up to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922, to his bitter disappointment at Irish neutrality in the Second World War and gradual rapprochement with his old enemy Eamon de Valera towards the end of his life.
As this long overdue book reminds us, Churchill learnt his earliest rudimentary political lessons in Ireland. It was the first piece in the Churchill jigsaw and, in some respects, the last.
- ISBN-10019875521X
- ISBN-13978-0198755210
- Edition1st
- PublisherOxford University Press
- Publication dateMay 24, 2016
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions8.6 x 1 x 5.4 inches
- Print length208 pages
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"[A] brilliant study...Churchill and Ireland is an elegant, objective, and absorbing book. It is essential reading."--A Blog on Winston Churchill
"A necessary and desirable addition to collections on Irish history, Winston Churchill, and the British Empire...Highly recommended."--CHOICE
"This is a a tremendous contribution to the understanding of a formative period of Churchill's life. It is beautifully researched and moves along at a tremendous pace as he unravels the grave complications. Magnificent."--Sir Nicholas Soames
"Paul Bew has given us a masterly exposition of Churchill's lifelong engagement with Irish affairs."--Paul Addison, author of Churchill: The Unexpected Hero
"An engaging, appreciative, and politically astute study...a book that proves, if needed, that Churchill's legacy still offers both an inspiration and a reproach for contemporary politicians, as they sink ever deeper into the mire of cynicism, triviality, sound-bites, and tweets." --David Fitzpatrick, Professor of Modern History, Trinity College Dublin
"[A] brilliant study Churchill and Ireland is an elegant, objective, and absorbing book. It is essential reading."--A Blog on Winston Churchill
"A necessary and desirable addition to collections on Irish history, Winston Churchill, and the British Empire Highly recommended."--CHOICE
"This is a a tremendous contribution to the understanding of a formative period of Churchill's life. It is beautifully researched and moves along at a tremendous pace as he unravels the grave complications. Magnificent."--Sir Nicholas Soames
"Paul Bew has given us a masterly exposition of Churchill's lifelong engagement with Irish affairs."--Paul Addison, author of Churchill: The Unexpected Hero
"An engaging, appreciative, and politically astute study...a book that proves, if needed, that Churchill's legacy still offers both an inspiration and a reproach for contemporary politicians, as they sink ever deeper into the mire of cynicism, triviality, sound-bites, and tweets." --David Fitzpatrick, Professor of Modern History, Trinity College Dublin
"A necessary and desirable addition to collections on Irish history, Winston Churchill, and the British Empire Highly recommended."--CHOICE
"This is a a tremendous contribution to the understanding of a formative period of Churchill's life. It is beautifully researched and moves along at a tremendous pace as he unravels the grave complications. Magnificent."--Sir Nicholas Soames
"Paul Bew has given us a masterly exposition of Churchill's lifelong engagement with Irish affairs."--Paul Addison, author of Churchill: The Unexpected Hero
"An engaging, appreciative, and politically astute study...a book that proves, if needed, that Churchill's legacy still offers both an inspiration and a reproach for contemporary politicians, as they sink ever deeper into the mire of cynicism, triviality, sound-bites, and tweets." --David Fitzpatrick, Professor of Modern History, Trinity College Dublin
"This is a a tremendous contribution to the understanding of a formative period of Churchill's life. It is beautifully researched and moves along at a tremendous pace as he unravels the grave complications. Magnificent."--Sir Nicholas Soames
"Paul Bew has given us a masterly exposition of Churchill's lifelong engagement with Irish affairs."--Paul Addison, author of Churchill: The Unexpected Hero
"An engaging, appreciative, and politically astute study...a book that proves, if needed, that Churchill's legacy still offers both an inspiration and a reproach for contemporary politicians, as they sink ever deeper into the mire of cynicism, triviality, sound-bites, and tweets." --David Fitzpatrick, Professor of Modern History, Trinity College Dublin
"This is a a tremendous contribution to the understanding of a formative period of Churchill's life. It is beautifully researched and moves along at a tremendous pace as he unravels the grave complications. Magnificent."--Sir Nicholas Soames
"Paul Bew has given us a masterly exposition of Churchill's lifelong engagement with Irish affairs."--Paul Addison, author of Churchill: The Unexpected Hero
"An engaging, appreciative, and politically astute study...a book that proves, if needed, that Churchill's legacy still offers both an inspiration and a reproach for contemporary politicians, as they sink ever deeper into the mire of cynicism, triviality, sound-bites, and tweets." --David Fitzpatrick, Professor of Modern History, Trinity College Dublin
"Paul Bew has given us a masterly exposition of Churchill's lifelong engagement with Irish affairs."--Paul Addison, author of Churchill: The Unexpected Hero
"An engaging, appreciative, and politically astute study...a book that proves, if needed, that Churchill's legacy still offers both an inspiration and a reproach for contemporary politicians, as they sink ever deeper into the mire of cynicism, triviality, sound-bites, and tweets." --David Fitzpatrick, Professor of Modern History, Trinity College Dublin
About the Author
Paul Bew is Professor of Irish Politics, Queens University Belfast, and a crossbench peer in the House of Lords. He is co-chair of the Speaker's Advisory Committee for Parliament's commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of Churchill's death. He is also the author of numerous books and articles on Irish political history, including Ireland: The Politics of Enmity, 1789-2006 (2007), also published by Oxford University Press.
Product details
- Publisher : Oxford University Press; 1st edition (May 24, 2016)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 208 pages
- ISBN-10 : 019875521X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0198755210
- Item Weight : 13.1 ounces
- Dimensions : 8.6 x 1 x 5.4 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,546,515 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #870 in Political Ideologies
- #1,368 in Political History (Books)
- #3,316 in European History (Books)
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Firstly, it’s possible to suggest that the most significant single event of this relationship was the creation of the Treaty of 1921 and the whole negotiation procedure that led to it. It was because of this subject I wanted to read the book but, sadly, the author had decided its detail was not relevant. Yes, the peripheral factors are discussed, but little or no detail of the actual process or how it evolved. Perhaps he felt the information was available elsewhere, but, from the little I know of it, it reveals a critical element of the man and the essence of his mind-set in dealing with Ireland. It was the single most likely event to show us how he really felt about the country. For me, the book was incomplete without it.
An academic in this position would have access to all necessary material and is professionally bound to comment only objectively. Subjective opinions, if offered, need to have understanding as well as full truthful information, otherwise they are worthless. For this reason, the book is fundamentally flawed, in my opinion, as the perspective is a purely Unionist one. Paul Bew has no understanding of the Nationalist psyche, or what has created and motivated it. He has shown this in stark terms by his comments about Ireland and the Commonwealth in his concluding chapter.
There is an element of opinion that believes pain is transmitted through the genes. Whether that is true or not, the pain that was imposed on Nationalist Ireland through the Penal Laws was a monstrosity whose ultimate influence means that a significant element of the present day Irish population would never trust a British administration to have any influence over it, ever.
From my perspective, the aetiological factors are clearly defined. A strand of my family had their lands confiscated in the 1600’s. The last surviving member of that line was a tenanted farmer with something in the region of 30 acres of land – which made him one of the more fortunate of the native farming community some 200 years later. However, in or about the Famine years, he and his family were tricked and evicted, turned onto the side of the road by a British implanted landlord and the pain of that event led my father to take up arms, despite the fact he was the least bellicose of beings. In fact, Churchill himself was obliged to issue a statement explaining why my father was beaten up by British troops on the Curragh for objecting to having his photograph taken.
Whatever Paul Bew might think, and I’m not impugning his integrity, the Unionist population of both North and Southern Ireland – whatever impositions they suffered – never experienced a fraction of the intimidation of the Nationalists. 100,000 British troops on the island were there to protect them, to supervise the crushing of language, religion, to deprive the native population of education, land-ownership, franchise, etc. There are words to describe what was attempted – and none of them are particularly flattering words towards those responsible.
And it might be worth commenting that the actions of the British in those times are constantly apologised for now by ordinary British people who are ashamed of what happened, but ordinary people had no say in the decision making then – nor do they often have now. Such totally myopic actions that also unleashed the likes of Cromwell - that even in modern times could take an army into Iraq - were never anything other than the insanity of individuals with power, an expression of blind materialism, or worse, perhaps. They did it because they could, and there was no one to stop them.
What is clear, and not only from this book, is that Churchill was a kindly, if bumbling political figure to whom we all owe a debt of gratitude, even in Ireland. The Treaty he negotiated with Collins and his team was and is hugely significant in the history of our country. Whatever its limitations, whatever the rights and wrongs of subsequent political influences on it, it had a critical benefit to the lives of native people ever since, it can be said. When deValera told Churchill that Ireland should have stayed in the Commonwealth, he was speaking from a personal perspective. Even the whole of his followers, perhaps, might disagree with him on the issue of Commonwealth membership. We had our Brexit and there is no going back. It might be fine to be friends, but there are too many skeletons floating about still for there ever to be anything like that kind of trust. History should recognise that fact.
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