Cronin's text seems to avoid all the pitfalls a book of this title could fall into. It is highly readable, and its coverage of the history of Ireland is in the main comprehensive and coherent. Importantly, Cronin's tone is professional and disinterested, which is more than can be said for many texts that linger around the same shelfmark. The final chapters, those concerned with post-partition Ireland, and especially on the North since 1969 are of particular interest, given the seeming lack of availability of reliable literature on the topic. I have reservations in regard to some of the issues that Cronin has thought fit to omit from the text. For example, the influence and happenings of the Land League and the agrarian unrest of the late Nineteenth Century are dealt with rather perfunctorily. Some cultural issues, such as the Gaelic revival of the early Twentieth Century are also covered insufficiently . But these are only minor omissions given the abitious range of the book (over a thousand years in under three hundred pages).

Cronin's text makes for a brilliant, impartial introduction to Irish history, and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone tackling the issues as part of an undergraduate history or politics module. But it is just that - an introduction. If you're already well-versed in the subject, I'd plump for something a little more ambitious. ( )

Respectable history, but not overly engaging. There were sections where I felt more was needed to help me understand. ( )