Early Modern History (1500–1700)

Donegal: History and Society, William Nolan, Liam Ronayne and Máiread Dunlevy (eds.). (Geography Publications, £40) ISBN: 0906602459

The editors have set out to place County Donegal in its local, national and European contexts by combining the work of archaeologists, medievalists, Celtic scholars, geographers, place name scholars and historians of economics, culture and politics. The result is the most comprehensive interdisciplinary study ever undertaken of Donegal. The geographical entity we know today as … Read more

Europe: A History, Norman Davies, (Oxford University Press, £25). ISBN: 0198201710

Eight years after the fall of the Berlin Wall seems an appropriate time for the arrival of new European histories which attempt to give East and West parity of esteem. Such histories are now wending their way to the bookstores. Europe: a History has garnered the most headlines (and sales). The layout is innovative. The … Read more

Shane O’Neill, Ciaran Brady, (Historical Association of Ireland, £4.50). ISBN: 0852211295

Shane O’Neill, the great Ulster lord of the mid-sixteenth century, merits a biography. Brady’s is accessible, exceptionally well-written and strong on high politics and Anglo-Irish relations. Shane’s visit to the court of Elizabeth is no longer a barbarous freak-show but the subject of court intrigue. There is the state’s botched attempt to poison O’Neill by … Read more

Conquest and Union: Fashioning a British State 1485-1725 Steven G. Ellis and Sarah Barber (eds.) (Longman, hb £36, pb £14.99) ISBN 0-5822-0964-1, 0-5822-0963-3

It is hardly more than twenty years since John Pocock first called for the creation of the ‘unknown subject’ (as he called it) of British History. Although the concept has not yet managed to penetrate to book shops (where shelves labelled ‘British History’ tend to be occupied by old-fashioned ‘popular’ histories of England). It is … Read more