Utilising a wide range of archival correspondence and diaries, this monograph reconstructs the 1974-79 Labour government's policies in Northern Ireland. It covers the collapse of power-sharing in May 1974, the secret dialogue with the Provisional IRA during the 1975 ceasefire, the acquiescence of Labour ministers in continuing indefinite direct rule from Westminster, efforts to mitigate conflict through industrial investment, a major shift in security policy emphasizing the police over the...

The Troubles refers to a violent thirty-year conflict, at the heart of which lay the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. Over 3,000 people were killed on all sides, and many more damaged by a legacy that continued long past 1998.After looking at the roots of Catholic discrimination of the Northern Irish state, Coogan points to Orange prejudice in housing, education and jobs and the lack of a Catholic outlet for peaceful protest. He argues that the war in the North started as...

There is no more dramatic event in our political history than the dismissal. This book is the definitive story, filled with fresh documents, revelations and new interviews that change our understanding of this event. It is also a brilliant forensic analysis of the ruthless, proud and stubborn main players – Malcolm Fraser, Gough Whitlam and Sir John Kerr.As keys to our understanding, Kelly and Bramston examine four central aspects of the dismissal: the real attitude of Buckingham Pa...

Now that Northern Ireland’s “troubles” appear to be over, with old enemies the DUP and Sinn Féin sharing power, what will happen to the hard men of loyalism?The Ulster Volunteer Force emerged during the first sparks of Northern Ireland’s Troubles in the mid-1960s. Their campaign of violence quickly marked them out as one of the most extreme loyalist groups.Henry MacDonald and Jim Cusack provide a fascinating insight into the UVF’s origins, growth and decline. They follow th...

The story of contemporary Ireland is inseparable from the story of the official republican movement, a story told here for the first time - from the clash between Catholic nationalist and socialist republicanism in the 1960s and '70s through the Workers' Party's eventual rejection of irredentism. A roll-call of influential personalities in the fields of politics, trade unionism and media - many still operating at the highest levels of Irish public life - passed though the ranks of this sec...

Understand Irish History is a comprehensive guide to a fascinating history. You will explore Irish reformation and restoration, culture, religion and society as well as more recent conflicts and their impact. Taking you from ancient Ireland to the present day, it will give you an understanding of the background to events that have dominated the headlines in recent years.NOT GOT MUCH TIME?One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started.AUT...

Ireland's bestselling popular historian tells the story of contemporary Ireland - controversial, authoritative and highly readable. Tim Pat Coogan's biographies of Michael Collins and DeValera and his studies of the IRA, the Troubles and the Irish Diaspora have transformed our understanding of contemporary Ireland, and all have been massive bestsellers. Now he has produced a major history of Ireland in the twentieth century. Covering both South and North and dealing with cultural and socia...

The first part of the landmark trilogy documenting modern-day Northern Ireland, by the author of Loyalists and BritsThis work examines the Provos, from 1969, when the IRA was effectively dead and buried, to within a few short years, when it had resurrected to become the most feared and sophisticated terrorist organization in the world. The book is based on in-depth interviews with key personalities in the Army, Police, British and Irish government...

He’s been imprisoned, shot at, denounced, shunned, and banned, yet Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams remains resolute in his belief that peace is the only viable option for the Irish people. Adams led the oldest revolutionary movement in Ireland on an extraordinary journey from armed insurrection to active participation in government. Now he tells the story of the tumultuous series of events that led to the historic Good Friday Agreement as only he can: with a tireless crusader’s conviction ...

A revelatory biography of Australia’s longest-serving prime minister.Robert Menzies claimed the prime ministership in 1939 and led the nation during the early years of the war, but resigned two years later when he lost the confidence of his party. His political career seemed over, and yet he staged one of the great comebacks to forge a new political party, devise a new governing philosophy, and craft a winning electoral approach that as to make him Australia’s long...

From the first symptoms of serious unrest - the Divis Street riots of 1964 - to the tortuous political manoeuvrings culminating in the 2003 Assembly elections, the book traces the reality of life in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.It details the motivation behind the IRA 'armed struggle', the Civil Rights movement, the murder campaigns of various loyalist terror groups, the major incidents of violence and the response of the British security forces and the justice system....

Conduct Unbecoming is a landmark political memoir from one of Ireland's most outspoken and respected public figures, Desmond O'Malley. Born in Limerick in 1939, Desmond O'Malley went on to become the youngest Minister for Justice in Irish history and the founder of the Progressive Democrats, a hugely influential party in Irish politics. In this groundbreaking memoir, O'Malley recounts in funny, caustic and probing detail the stories, ideas and personalities of his political career. O'Malle...