English - Irish Freedom: A History of Nationalism in Ireland

Richard English was born in 1963 in Belfast, where he is Professor of Politics at Queens University. Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA, also published by Pan Macmillan, won the Politics Book of the Year Award for 2003 from the Political Studies Association and was shortlisted for the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize. He is a frequent media commentator on Irish politics, and has written on Ireland for the Irish Times, the Times Literary Supplement, Newsweek, the Financial Times and the Times Higher Education Supplement.

Richard English has followed up his award-winning Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA with another survey of a vast topic: the past origins, past and present progress and future potential of that elusive and yet everyday phenomenon: national identity in Ireland This is a very ambitious endeavour, and English brings it off with great panache courageous and successful

Tom Garvin, Irish Times

A brilliant survey of ideas about nationalism, asking where the phenomenon comes from, why it endures and triumphs over other identifications and what the general history and theory of nationalism can illuminate about the Irish case, and vice-versa. It should be widely read

Roy Foster, Irish Times Books of the Year 2006

Mature, insightful and even-handed an ambitious and brave undertaking. But he rises to the challenge admirably, partly because of the lively spirit of inquiry that punctuates his prose, his crisp assessments of some of the icons of Irish nationalism, and his engaging style English brings a sharp interrogation to many of the labels and assumptions associated with Irish nationalism

Diarmaid Ferriter, Sunday Business Post

This book is a tour de force through the history of Irish nationalism from the twelfth century to the Good Friday Agreement. Richard English, Professor of Politics at Queens University Belfast, pulls off the ambitious project with aplomb

Irish Examiner

Among the books I read in 2006, few matched the majestic sweep of Richard Englishs treatment of the cause of Irish nationalism. Irish Freedom: The History of Nationalism in Ireland is the work of an academic at the top of his game

Kevin Rafter, Sunday Tribune Books of the Year 2006

[A] magisterial new history of Irish nationalism

Steven King, Irish Examiner

Nationalism has dominated the Irish political scene for the last two centuries and this excellent book goes a long way to explaining its significance and importance. Englishs book is perfect for anyone looking for a greater understanding of the ideology that has shaped Ireland as we know it today

Derry Journal

An important book by a writer rightly regarded as one of our most nuanced and careful political thinkers

William Crawley, BBC

The authors erudition is remarkable, and his ability to thoroughly carry out such an ambitious task is impressive

Liam ORuairc, The Sovereign Nation

places Irish nationalism in the context of the development of nationalist ideas elsewhere timely and interesting

John Bruton, Irish Independent

valuable as an analysis of the practical and philosophical underpinnings of both constitutional and aggressive nationalism its most important contribution is to stress the pragmatism that has marked nationalisms greatest successes

Sunday Times

a brave and coherently argued assault on the historical sacred cows of Irish nationalism, as well as a sympathetic appraisal of the movements roots

Metro Scotland

The most important quote in this ambitious, epic work on Irish nationalism is in parenthesis, but it should have been the books epigraph. It comes from The Poverty of Historicism, Karl Poppers critique of the Marxian notion that history runs inexorably and predictably towards a promised land: The belief in historical destiny is sheer superstition.

For the philosophers assault on Marxism, read Richard Englishs lucidly written dissection of nationalism in Ireland over the last three centuries this superb survey of Irish nationalism [is] a fine work of scholarship

Henry McDonald, Observer