The publisher informs us that this book is part of a new series of Essential Histories, national histories that are designed to appeal to anyone wishing to gain a broad understanding of a country's history - whether they are a student, a traveller, a professional or a general reader.
Histories of the US, the British Isles and China have already been published, while histories of India, Israel, Russia, New Zealand and most countries in western Europe are promised. In the introduction, Mike Cronin suggests that he has a more difficult task than other authors in this series, because Ireland is "an anomaly, a difficult history to write as there is no historical plateau".
It is not clear what he means by the term "historical plateau", but he goes on to state that in other countries such a plateau was signalled by the establishment of "a democratic and singularly-agreed nation state". Without this, he believes that there can be no one history of Ireland. This statement seems to suggest that other countries have an agreed history, but I doubt if historians of France or Germany, not to mention Russia, India or Israel would agree.
The concept of an agreed narrative of a national history began to unravel once history expanded its canvas from the traditional concentration on kings, battles and statesmen, to include economic and social history and popular culture. Cronin has simplified his task considerably by deciding to focus on political history. Unfortunately, having informed his readers that there are differing interpretations of Irish history, he makes no effort to examine these differences or the main points of contention. He does, however, emphasise two aspects of Ireland's history: the absence of a system of central power throughout the early and medieval period, and Ireland's long history of lawlessness and violence. He seems under the impression that by the Middle Ages other countries had achieved strong, central administrations and that Ireland's problems stemmed from a failure to do likewise. "What was needed was a complete conquest of Ireland - not just of the land but also of its people - at which point genuine central government and control could follow". Well Cromwell attempted to do this in the 17th century, with disastrous consequences.
References to violence, warfare and lawlessness pepper the text. At some points they may be appropriate, but his description of Ireland under the Union as "locked into a continuing spiral of violence, protest and upheaval" is a gross exaggeration. Nor does he appear to realise that by categorising Irish history in this fashion he is applying one of the most common English stereotypes about Ireland. Of course references to struggles and violence immediately connect Ireland's history to the Northern Ireland crisis, a conflict that according to Cronin "has cost countless lives". The number of lives lost in the Northern Ireland crisis is not countless: few modern conflicts have been as well documented, but vague statements of this type are common throughout the book, and they reflect a general lack of precision in his approach.
The text is littered with mis-spelt names, inaccurate dates and other factual errors; in some sections the error rate is as high as one per paragraph. On topics, such as Gaelic and Viking Ireland, or Irish economic history, the content is at least 30 years out of date. In other instances his treatment could be described either as eccentric or downright inaccurate. The Normans have disappeared from Irish history; in 1170 the English invaded Ireland - and this message is rammed home by the repeated use of the word English in the following paragraphs. There are other surprises to follow; forget Henry Joy McCracken and the Ulster United Irishmen - Ulster did not participate in the 1798 rebellion! "Any violence that took place in Ulster was along familiar lines and across the communities and did not contribute to the events of 1798 in any major way". However Wolfe Tone, who has been transformed into a Presbyterian "managed to organise the French fleet and gather all the troops together" for the Bantry Bay invasion.
CRONIN'S previous work was on the Blueshirts, so we might expect higher standards when he reaches the 20th century, but the sloppy statements and inaccuracies continue. We are told that in 1914 the largest group of Irish nationalists "followed Redmond to war"; the 1916 Proclamation becomes at a certain point the "Declaration"; the Civil War began in earnest in April 1921. I doubt that even De Valera would have described his St Patrick's Day speech in 1943 - the "comely maidens" speech - as an important statement of policy. Any reader who is looking for a concise onevolume history of Ireland should look elsewhere.
Prof Mary E. Daly lectures in Irish History at University College Dublin