These Fissured Isles

The themes developed at the conference concerned a variety of fissures in British society at that time - which historical research is now identifying, and which the questioning of 'Britishness' today makes all the more relevant. The Aberdeen conference from which These Fissured Isles derives began with reflections on the state of historical knowledge about the rebellions of the United Irishmen and (to a lesser extent) the United Scotsman, in 1798, as it was revealed by the bi-centenary commemorations the year before, particularly in the Irish Republic and the USA. The conference went on to hear papers on a number of related topics, culminating with an in-depth examination of recent work on Chartism. These Fissured Isles is based in part on the papers delivered at the conference, in part on the further reflections of some of the scholars who participated, and in part on specially commissioned papers. The essays cover five main themes: Ireland, Scotland and the British Question; The Horizons of Women; Conservatism and Culture in Scotland; Chartism Revisited, and The Past, the Present and the People.


Together they form a historical enterprise highly relevant to the present and to all those concerned with the future of Britain and Ireland in the age of New Labour, the Peace process and the New Europe, and at a time when soaring, present-centred optimisms about all three are constantly coming up against obstacles which only a historically-informed consciousness can properly understand.