Charting a dispassionate course between the various contending positions, Jeremy Smith synthesises the large amount of research on Irish history during the last two decades, making it available to a wider audience. Particular focus is given to the later, relatively obscure phase of Irish independence - between the Easter rising of 1916 and the intense negotiations surrounding the Treaty in the autumn of 1921.

Part 1 The Background; Chapter 1 Irish History and the Historians; Chapter 2 Ireland's Past, 1800-69; Part 2 Analysis; Chapter 3 Gladstone, Parnell and Home Rule, 1869-90; Chapter 4 New Directions, 1890-1909; Chapter 5 Crisis in the Union, 1910-16; Chapter 6 Revolution, 1916-21part3 Assessmentpart4 Documents;