Irish History

When Rudyard Kipling, whose only son died fighting with the Irish Guards on the Western Front in 1915, penned the words "For where there are Irish there's bound to be fighting," he wasn't exaggerating Ireland's contribution to the…

In this fascinating sequel to the ground-breaking publication of Broad Church in 2019, A Broad Church 2 reveals the true history of the Provisional Republican movement in the south of Ireland in the cataclysmic decade of the 1980s…

A sweeping, accessible history of Ireland adapted from Dr Jonathan Bardon's BBC seriesThis authoritative and comprehensive history of Ireland, written by Dr Jonathan Bardon and completed by his former editor Fergal Tobin, covers t…

From the creator of The Irish History Podcast comes a fascinating look at Irish history through the lens of murder. In A Lethal Legacy, Fin Dwyer charts 200 years of Irish history, opening up our past as never before, by observing…

The 1930s in Ireland is often remembered as a bleak period of economic stagnation and unemployment. But, 1932, hailed by the Irish Press as a 'new era', was an early glimmer of the modernity that Ireland would later reach, with ke…

An ancient island with a romantic history and lush green landscape, Ireland's culture stretches back to the time of St Patrick and the first Christian monks and includes the Norman invasion, clan wars, mass emigration and partitio…

n the early 1970s, Sir Maurice Oldfield of the British Secret Service, MI6, embarked upon a decade-long campaign to derail the political career of Charles Haughey. The English spymaster believed Haughey was a Provisional IRA godfa…

During the Irish Civil War, events of late 1922 and early 1923 together with waves of 'dishonourable' killings created poisoned relations between Republicans and 'Free Staters' which would last for several generations. The most en…

In this people's history of Ireland, John Creedon introduces a fascinating collection of stories from the Schools' Collection. This treasure trove of old stories, ways and wisdom, which could have been lost for ever, was collected…

On the morning of Saturday 22nd April 1978, members of an Active Service Unit of the IRA hijacked a car and crossed the countryside to the town of Lisburn. Within an hour, they had killed an off-duty policeman in front of his youn…

April 1921 saw the arrival of the first internees at the newly opened internment camp in the ‘Military Prison in the Field Bere Island’. The internees comprised a diverse group of men including poets, writers, intellectuals and co…

In June 1922, just seven months after Sinn Fein negotiators signed a compromise treaty with representatives of the British government to create the Irish Free State, Ireland collapsed into civil war. While the body count suggests …

Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera were the two most charismatic leaders of the Irish revolution. This joint biography looks first at their very different upbringings and early careers. Both fought in the 1916 Easter Rising, alth…

A fascinating look at the lifestyle and values of ancient IrelandThousands of years ago, Celtic Ireland was a land of tribes and warriors; but a widely accepted, sophisticated and surprisingly enlightened legal system kept society…

Pioneering human rights campaigner, patriot, romantic, traitor, LGBTQ+ martyr: this is the story of Roger Casement, one of the 20th century's most complex and compelling figures. In 1904, Casement became internationally celebrated…

The gripping story of the tumultuous destruction of the Irish country house, spanning the revolutionary years of 1912 to 1923 During the Irish Revolution nearly three hundred country houses were burned to the ground. These "Big Ho…

Tom Crean is one of the most iconic figures in Irish history. Born in 1877 in County Kerry, he enlisted in the Royal Navy at the age of sixteen, the start of a career that would bring him to the most extreme environments on Earth.…

100s of personal testimonials, 1000s of teachers, 100s of 1000s of pupils… all connected through one organisation, Cumann na mBunscol. Caoga Bliain ag Fás is a story of ‘ordinary’ men and women who did extraordinary things, and th…

From 1918 to 1922 Michael Collins kept working diaries of his busy revolutionary life. They are a collection of hurried notes, necessary lists, names and appointments, things to do, and things not done. They are a record of his lo…

A tragic death, a murder trial and a 170-year-old mystery - but what really happened? Shortly after Maria Kirwan died in a lonely inlet on Ireland's Eye, it was decided that she had drowned accidentally during a day spent with her…