A Political History of the Two Irelands From Partition to Peace [Hardcover]

This ground-breaking political history of the two Irish States provides unique new insights into the 'Troubles' and the peace process. It examines the impact of the fraught dynamics between the competing identities of the Nationalist-Catholic-Irish Community on the one hand and the Unionist-Protestant-British community on the other.Introduction PART I Action and Reaction: Majority Identities, 1921-60 Parallel Universes: Minority Identities, 1921-60 Remembering and Forgetting: Commemorations and Identity, 1921-60 PART II Conflict and Conciliation: Identities and Change, 1960-2010 Remembering and Reclaiming: Commemorations and Identity, 1960-2010 The Past and the Present: History, Identity and the Peace Process Conclusion Endnotes Bibliography

'It is refreshing to encounter a book that explains the way the modern histories of the two Irelands -north and south- have intertwined and formed a dizzyingly self-reinforcing feedback system: sometimes for the better, mostly for the worse. Professor Brian Walker is one of the few writers who can catch this interaction with clarity and a strong and fair sense of evidence. I recommend this book highly to anyone who cares about where Ireland has been - and where it is going.'

- Donald Harman Akenson, Douglas Professor of History, Queen's University, Canada

'There are always other narratives in a nation's history, which are hidden or consciously excluded by those with a vested interest in doing so. In this timely overview of Ireland's political history in the last century, Brian Walker takes a wide European and all-Ireland viewpoint to show how a selective narrowing of identities underpinned the Northern Ireland conflict and how a reconsideration of such selective narratives has underpinned the current peace process. This is a most uplifting and highly readable new work.'

- Marianne Elliott, Professor and Director of the Institute for Irish Studies, University of LiverplCa