Diarmaid Ferriter

For the past two decades, you could cross the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic half a dozen times without noticing or, indeed, without turning off the road you were travelling. It cuts through fields, winds back-and-forth across roads, and wends from the mouth of the Newry River to the mouth of the Foyle. It's frictionless - a feat sealed by the Good Friday Agreement. Before that, watchtowers loomed over border communities, military checkpoints dotted the roads, and bridges had been demolished to prevent crossings. This is a past that most are happy to have left behind but it may also be the future. The border between the Irish Republic-Northern Ireland border has been a topic of dispute for over a century, first in Dublin, Belfast and Westminster and now, post referendum, in Brussels. Diarmaid Ferriter charts its history from the divisive 1920s Act to the Treaty and its aftermath, through 'the Troubles' and the Good Friday Agreement up to the Brexit negotiations. With the fate of the border uncertain, the Border is a timely intervention into one of the most contentious and misunderstood political issues of our time.

The Legacy of a Century of Anglo-Irish Politics

The Border

Shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2019 'Anyone who wishes to understand why Brexit is so intractable should read this book. I can think of several MPs who ought to.' The Times For the past two decades, you could cross the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic half a dozen times without noticing or, indeed, turning off the road you were travelling. It cuts through fields, winds back-and-forth across roads, and wends from Carlingford Lough to Lough Foyle. It is frictionless - a feat sealed by the Good Friday Agreement. Before that, watchtowers loomed over border communities, military checkpoints dotted the roads, and smugglers slipped between jurisdictions. This is a past that most are happy to have left behind but might it also be the future? The border has been a topic of dispute for over a century, first in Dublin, Belfast and Westminster and, post Brexit referendum, in Brussels. Yet, despite the passions of Nationalists and Unionists in the North, neither found deep wells of support in the countries they identified with politically. British political leaders were often ignorant of the conflict's complexities, rarely visited the border, and privately disliked their erstwhile unionist allies. Southern leaders' anti-partition statements masked relative indifference and unofficial cooperation with British security services. From the 1920 Government of Ireland Act that created the border, the Treaty and its aftermath, through the Civil Rights Movement, Thatcher, the Troubles and the Good Friday Agreement up to the Brexit negotiations, Ferriter reveals the political, economic, social and cultural consequences of the border in Ireland. With the fate of the border uncertain, The Border is a timely intervention by a renowned historian into one of the most contentious and misunderstood political issues of our time.

Ireland in the 1970s

Ambiguous Republic

The Transformation Of Ireland 1900 - 2000

Rob Cross

Covering all 32 counties, The Colour of Ireland shares over 120 beautiful photos bringing the people and places of bygone eras to life in incredible and vibrant detail. Painstakingly researched, this fascinating new book provides a unique social account of Ireland, bringing history to life in a level of detail never seen before. The Colour of Ireland: County by County 1850-1950 spans more than a hundred years throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and brings history to life using contemporary photographs as the basis for full-colour digital renditions. Rob Cross breathes new life, immediacy and human connection back into these breathtaking black and white photographs, bringing out the minute detail in each image and using careful historical research to determine the colours of every object in every photo. These images show incredible detail and a richness and depth that has not been seen before, bringing the people and places of an Ireland long gone back to life. With its beautifully restored images, The Colour of Ireland presents over 120 magnificent photographs of Irish life covering all 32 counties, the beauties of the Green Isle and capturing Ireland's people and its most picturesque villages, townlands, and the fast-emerging cities of Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, and Waterford City. The book also captures photos of Ireland's most turbulent times from the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War featuring some of the titans of Irish political life such as Michael Collins, Éamon de Valera, Arthur Griffith, and James Connolly. This magnificent collection of images of Ireland is both a fascinating social history and an astonishing technical achievement. And it's an essential book for anyone who loves Ireland and Irish history.

County by County 1850-1950

The Colour of Ireland

Hard-nosed scholarship and moral passion underpin Diarmaid Ferriter's work. Now he turns to the key years of the 70s, when after half a century of independence, questions were being asked about the old ways of doing things. Ambiguous Republic considers the widespread social, cultural, economic and political upheavals of the decade, a decade when Ireland joined the EEC; when for the first time a majority of the population lived in urban areas; when economic challenges abounded; which saw too an increasingly visible feminist moment, and institutions including the Church began to be subjected to criticism.Diarmaid Ferriter's earlier books have been described as 'a landmark' and 'an immense contribution'; making 'brilliant use of new sources'; 'prodigiously gifted', and 'ground-breaking'. All those words apply to this important book based on recently opened archives and unique access to the papers of Jack Lynch and Liam Cosgrave.

At the end of the Irish War of Independence, Dublin signed an unsatisfactory treaty with London, that amongst other things, required oaths of allegiance to the British Empire. To many this was a price worth paying, but for others it was impossible. Very quickly, in 1922 the country collapsed into a cruel civil war that split organisations like Sinn Fein and the IRA, local communities, and families. It was less devastating than some other European civil wars but it left a ghastly number of dead, injured and immiserated across Ireland, north and south. And it cast a long shadow across Ireland. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, the two parties that grew out of the rival factions, have ruled Ireland since the end of the civil war. It was only in 2019 - almost a century after the conflict - because of Sinn Fein's electoral success that the two parties could see their way to officially working together. Drawing on completely new sources, Ireland's most brilliant historian shows how important this tragic war was for understanding Ireland now.

The Irish Civil War

Between Two Hells

What If? is an entertaining, thoughtful, provocative and original look at some of the milestones of twentieth century Irish history that offers a glimpse of what might have been. We all know that there was nothing inevitable about much of modern Ireland’s history. Things could have turned out very differently, so it is natural to wonder what would have happened if certain events had never occurred or happened in a different way. What If? is the thought-provoking, enjoyable and insightful book that explores this conceit as its starting point, asking of key events in twentieth-century Ireland: ‘what if?’ Based on Diarmaid Ferriter’s acclaimed RTÉ Radio One series, the book looks at twenty events in twentieth-century Ireland, each of which was discussed on Ferriter’s show with two experts, and speculates on how things might have developed had circumstances been different. In doing so, Ferriter also sheds much new light on what actually did happen, how Ireland changed during the course of the twentieth century and the experiences of those who lived through it. The big questions are tackled: what if there had been no 1916 Rising? What if Ireland had been invaded during World War II? What if there had been no programmes for economic expansion? What if Mary Robinson had not been elected president in 1990? But the book also poses other, less obvious, questions: what if James Joyce and Samuel Beckett had stayed in Ireland; if Britain had blocked Irish immigration in the 1950s; if there had been no Late Late Show or Magill magazine; if Bishop Eamon Casey had never met Annie Murphy; or if John Charles McQuaid had never been Archbishop of Dublin? What If? Alternative Views of Twentieth-Century Ireland: Table of Contents Introduction What if there had been no Late Late Show? What if there had been no pro-life amendment referendum in 1983? What if there had been no Magill magazine? What if John Charles McQuaid had not been appointed Archbishop of Dublin in 1940? What if Ben Dunne had not gone on a golfing trip to Florida in 1992? What if Bishop Eamon Casey’s secret had not been discovered? What if there had been no 1916 Rising? What if the Treaty ports had not been returned in 1938? What if the Blueshirts had attempted a coup in 1933? What if de Valera had stood down as leader of Fianna Fáil in 1948 instead of 1959? What if Donogh O’Malley had not introduced free secondary education in 1967? What if the Irish Press had not closed down in 1995? What if James Joyce and Samuel Beckett had stayed in Ireland? What if Frank Duff had not established the Legion of Mary in 1921? What if the Jim Duffy tape had not been released during the 1990 presidential election? What if Proportional Representation had been abolished in 1959 or 1968? What if T. K. Whitaker had not been appointed Secretary of the Department of Finance in 1956? What if the members of U2 had gone to different schools in the 1970s? What if Britain had imposed restrictions on Irish immigration in the 1950s? What if Noël Browne had not been involved in Irish politics?

An Entertaining and Thought-Provoking Counter-History of Twentieth-Century Ireland

What If? Alternative Views of Twentieth-Century Irish History

Colm Toibin

The Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s has been popularly perceived as a genocide attributable to the British gov't. In professional historical circles, however, such singular thinking was dismissed many years ago. And while British governmental sins of omission & commission during the famine played their part, there is a broader context of land agitation & regional influences of class conflict within Ireland that also contributed to the starvation of more than a million people. This book opens a door to understanding all sides of this tragedy with an absorbing history that is supported by a collection of key documents. An important piece of revisionist that is sure to become the classic primer for this lamentable period of Irish history.

A Documentary

The Irish Famine

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'?

Alternative Views of Twentieth-century Ireland

What If?

"Of course, I wrote most of the Constitution myself. I remember hesitating for a long time over the American Presidential system. But it wouldn't have done - we were too trained in English democracy to sit down under a dictatorship, which is what the American system really is - Ministers not responsible to parliament - that would never do. Besides, I wanted to prepare a nice quiet job without too much work for my old age.... Still, I admit I was tempted - look at the way de Gaulle rules France...absolute rule...very efficient." - Eamon de Valera, Churchill College Cambridge Archives, Gilchrist Papers *** Eamon de Valera has often been characterized as a stern, unbending, devious, and divisive Irish politician. But how valid is this caricature? In Judging Dev, author Diarmaid Ferriter re-examines de Valera's life and legacy. The book contains an in-depth analysis of the impact of de Valera and includes many previously unpublished key letters, documents, and photographs from the National Archives of Ireland and the University College Dublin, School of History and Archives to chronicle the extraordinary career of the most significant politician of modern Irish history and his role in the history of the Irish state.

A Reassessment of the Life and Legacy of Eamon de Valera

Judging Dev

Shortlisted for the ONSIDE NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 The islands off the coast of Ireland have long been a source of fascination. Seen as repositories of an ancient Irish culture and the epitome of Irish romanticism, they have attracted generations of scholars, artists and filmmakers, from James Joyce to Robert O'Flaherty, looking for a way of life uncontaminated by modernity or materialism. But the reality for islanders has been a lot more complex. They faced poverty, hardship and official hostility, even while being expected to preserve an ancient culture and way of life. Writing in her 1936 autobiography, Peig Sayers, resident of Blaskets island, described it as 'this dreadful rock'. In 1841, there were 211 inhabited islands with a combined population of 38,000; by 2011, only 64 islands were inhabited, with a total population of 8,500. And younger generations continue to leave. By documenting the island experiences and the social, cultural and political reaction to them over the last 100 years, On the Edge examines why this exodus has happened, and the gulf between the rhetoric that elevated island life and the reality of the political hostility towards them.It uncovers, through state and private archives, personal memoirs, newspaper coverage, and the author's personal travels, the realities behind the "dreadful rocks", and the significance of the experiences of, and reactions to, those who were and remain, literally, on the very edge of European civilisation.

Ireland’s off-shore islands: a modern history

On the Edge

The Irish have had, and continue to experience an extraordinary relationship with alcohol. Ferriter explores this relationship, in the twentieth century, from the point of view of the group who were intent on reducing alcohol consumption through membership of the Pioneer Total Abstinence of the Sacred Heart.

The Pioneers in Twentieth-century Ireland

A Nation of Extremes

Ferriter covers such subjects as abortion, pregnancy, celibacy, contraception, censorship, infanticide, homosexuality, prostitution, marriage, popular culture, social life and the various hidden Irelands associated with sexual abuse - all in the context of a conservative official morality backed by the Catholic Church and by legislation. The book energetically and originally engages with subjects omitted from the mainstream historical narrative. The breadth of this book and the richness of the source material uncovered make it definitive in its field and a most remarkable work of social history.

Sex and Society in Modern Ireland

Occasions of Sin

A ground-breaking history of the twentieth century in Ireland, written on the most ambitious scale by a brilliant young historian. It is significant that it begins in 1900 and ends in 2000 - most accounts have begun in 1912 or 1922 and largely ignored the end of the century. Politics and political parties are examined in detail but high politics does not dominate the book, which rather sets out to answer the question: 'What was it like to grow up and live in 20th-century Ireland'? It deals with the North in a comprehensive way, focusing on the social and cultural aspects, not just the obvious political and religious divisions.

The Transformation Of Ireland 1900-2000

Packed with violence, political drama and social and cultural upheaval, the years 1913-1923 saw the emergence in Ireland of the Ulster Volunteer Force to resist Irish home rule and in response, the Irish Volunteers, who would later evolve into the IRA. World War One, the rise of Sinn Fin, intense Ulster unionism and conflict with Britain culminated in the Irish war of Independence, which ended with a compromise Treaty with Britain and then the enmities and drama of the Irish Civil War. Drawing on an abundance of newly released archival material, witness statements and testimony from the ordinary Irish people who lived and fought through extraordinary times, A Nation and not a Rabble explores these revolutions. Diarmaid Ferriter highlights the gulf between rhetoric and reality in politics and violence, the role of women, the battle for material survival, the impact of key Irish unionist and republican leaders, as well as conflicts over health, land, religion, law and order, and welfare.

Diarmaid Ferriter

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