Ireland's bestselling popular historian tells the story of contemporary Ireland - controversial, authoritative and highly readable. Tim Pat Coogan's biographies of Michael Collins and DeValera and his studies of the IRA, the Troubles and the Irish Diaspora have transformed our understanding of contemporary Ireland, and all have been massive bestsellers. Now he has produced a major history of Ireland in the twentieth century. Covering both South and North and dealing with cultural and social history as well as political, this enthralling work will become the definitive single-volume account of the making of modern Ireland.

This collection explores how the British left has interacted with the ‘Irish question’ throughout the twentieth century, the left’s expression of solidarity with Irish republicanism and relationships built with Irish political movements. Throughout the twentieth century, the British left expressed, to varying degrees, solidarity with Irish republicanism and fostered links with republican, nationalist, socialist and labour groups in Ireland. Although this peaked with the Irish Revolution from 1916 to 1923 and during the ‘Troubles’ in the 1970s–80s, this collection shows that the British left sought to build relationships with their Irish counterparts (in both the North and South) from the Edwardian to Thatcherite period. However these relationships were much more fraught and often reflected an imperial dynamic, which hindered political action at different stages during the century. This collection explores various stages in Irish political history where the British left attempted to engage with what was happening across the Irish Sea. The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal, Contemporary British History.

History did not have to work out the way it actually did. Ferriter looks at twenty events in twentieth-century Irish life and wonders how they might have been different: What if Joyce and Beckett had stayed in Ireland? What if Britain had blocked Irish immigration in the 1950s? What if there had been no 'Late Late Show'?

This book examines Irish economic development in the twentieth century compared with other European countries. It traces the growth of the Republic's economy from its separation from Britain in the early 1920s through to the present. It assesses the factors which encouraged and inhibited economic development, and concludes with an appraisal of the country's present state and future prospects.

The twentieth century was a time of rapid social change in Ireland: from colonial rule to independence, civil war and later the Troubles; from poverty to globalisation and the Celtic Tiger; and from the rise to the fall of the Catholic Church. Policing in Ireland has been shaped by all of these changes. This book critically evaluates the creation of the new police force, an Garda Síochána, in the 1920s and analyses how this institution was influenced by and responded to these substantial changes. Beginning with an overview of policing in pre-independence Ireland, this book chronologically charts the history of policing in Ireland. It presents data from oral history interviews with retired gardaí who served between the 1950s and 1990s, giving unique insight into the experience of policing Ireland, the first study of its kind in Ireland. Particular attention is paid to the difficulties of transition, the early encounters with the IRA, the policing of the Blueshirts, the world wars, gangs in Dublin and the growth of drugs and crime. Particularly noteworthy is the analysis of policing the Troubles and the immense difficulties that generated. This book is essential reading for those interested in policing or Irish history, but is equally important for those concerned with the legacy of colonialism and transition.

Traces the social and political history of Ireland since the partition in the 1920s.

Periodicals have been at the core of journalistic activity since before the foundation of the state but have remained an area long neglected within media history. This volume, featuring essays by leading media historians, presents an insight into recent periodicals research in Ireland, much of which has focused on the magazines produced by various interest groups, the relationship between culture and commerce, and how periodicals critiqued the national press. Alongside case studies of key periodicals such as Fortnight, In Dublin, Status, and the Phoenix, the volume also examines periodicals produced over the course of the twentieth century by religious bodies, the Irish-language lobby, the women's-rights movement, and the gay-rights campaign. Focusing on key periodicals, proprietors, editors, contributors, and controversies, it evaluates the contribution of periodical journalism to the ideas and debates that helped shape twentieth-century Ireland.