“For God’s sake, bring me a large Scotch. What a bloody awful
country!” Home Secretary Reginald Maudling, returning from his
first visit to Northern Ireland in 1970 As a long and bloody
guerrilla war staggered to a close on the island of Ireland,
Britain beat a retreat from all but a small portion of the country
– and thus, in 1921, Northern Ireland was born. That partition,
says Kevin Meagher, has been an unmitigated disaster for
Nationalists and Unionists alike. Following the fraught history of
British rule in Ireland, a better future was there for the taking
but was lost amid political paralysis, while the resulting fifty
years of devolution succeeded only in creating a brooding sectarian
stalemate that exploded into the Troubles. In a stark but reasoned
critique, Meagher traces the landmark events in Northern
Ireland’s century of existence, exploring the missed signals, the
turning points, the principled decisions that should have been
taken, as well as the raw realpolitik of how Northern Ireland has
been governed over the past 100 years. Thoughtful and sometimes
provocative, What a Bloody Awful Country reflects on how both
Loyalists and Republicans might have played their cards differently
and, ultimately, how the actions of successive British governments
have amounted to a masterclass in failed statecraft.
General
Imprint: |
Biteback Publishing
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
August 2022 |
Authors: |
Kevin Meagher
|
Dimensions: |
129 x 199 x 28mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
336 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-78590-759-3 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-78590-759-X |
Barcode: |
9781785907593 |
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