Between Two Hells
The Irish Civil War
Published on 2. September 2021
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-1-78816-174-9 (ISBN)
Description
In December 1921, five months after a truce between the IRA and British Crown Forces, Sinn Fein negotiators signed a compromise treaty with representatives of the British government. It created the Irish Free State, a self-governing dominion within the British empire, for the twenty-six counties of southern Ireland. Its terms generated turmoil within the republican movement and the country and in June 1922 Ireland collapsed into a cruel civil war, ripping Sinn Fein, the IRA and its female wing Cumann na mBan, local communities and families asunder. While the body count suggests it was far less devastating than some other European civil wars, it had a harrowing impact on the small island and cast a long shadow, socially, economically and politically, which included both public rows and recriminations and deep, often private traumas.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, the two parties that grew out of the rival factions, have dominated Irish governance since the civil war era but it was only in 2020 - almost a century after the conflict - that the two could see their way to officially sharing power. Drawing on many previously unpublished sources and newly released archival material, one of Ireland's most renowned historians lays bare the course and impact of the war, the lives it cost, the reputations it forged, the fate of its survivors and how this tragedy shaped modern Ireland.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, the two parties that grew out of the rival factions, have dominated Irish governance since the civil war era but it was only in 2020 - almost a century after the conflict - that the two could see their way to officially sharing power. Drawing on many previously unpublished sources and newly released archival material, one of Ireland's most renowned historians lays bare the course and impact of the war, the lives it cost, the reputations it forged, the fate of its survivors and how this tragedy shaped modern Ireland.
Reviews / Votes
Between Two Hells is a fascinating exploration of the Civil War and its impact on Ireland and Irish politics in the following half-century, rich in insights into how women and men experienced and responded to the calamity of the split and the tawdry violence that followed. This absorbing study begs the question of why Irish politics did not develop along left/right, urban/rural lines, akin to those seen in other newly independent states * Irish Times * Simply outstanding ... Between Two Hells takes us closer to the messy truth behind independent Ireland's birth pangs than ever before. ... Ferriter has richly earned his reputation as one of Ireland's leading historians -- Andrew Lynch * Irish Independent * Original and arresting -- Henry Patterson * Sunday Times Ireland * Meticulously researched, judiciously balanced and unflinching ... breaks new ground -- Dermot Bolger * Sunday Business Post * Excellent ... Diarmaid Ferriter, Ireland's best-known and most prolific historian ... enriches lucid and judicious accounts of events and personalities with fresh archival evidence -- Cormac O Grada * BBC History Magazine * Fascinating ... absorbing -- Eunan O'Halpin * Irish Times * Praise for A Nation and Not a Rabble: 'Very illuminating detail...simply setting violent events in context is a step forward. Thoughtful, balanced, even handed * Irish Times * Ferriter's book is of such comprehensive and original scope...immensely readable and impressive * Sunday Business Post * ...The mighty mind this book comes from... rightly renowned for his voracious learning * Sunday Times * Tugs at the tapestry of myths surrounding the independence struggle and the civil war that followed...A tremendous feat of documentation * The Independent *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 34 mm
Weight
620 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78816-174-9 (9781788161749)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
09/2021
Profile Books Ltd
€14.49
Available for download
Person
Diarmaid Ferriter is Professor of Modern Irish History at University College Dublin. His previous books include The Transformation of Ireland 1900-2000 (2004), Occasions of Sin (2009), Ambiguous Republic (2012), A Nation and not a Rabble (2015), On The Edge (2018) and the international bestseller The Border (2019), all published by Profile Books. He is a regular broadcaster on radio and television and a columnist for the Irish Times. He was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2019.