Interpreting Northern Ireland (Clarendon Paperbacks) - Softcover

Whyte, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198273800 ISBN 13: 9780198273806

Publisher: Oxford University Press, U.S.A., 1987

Synopsis

Since 1968 when the current troubles began in Northern Ireland, hundreds of books and thousands of articles have been published on the subject. This book provides a guide to the mass of research that has accumulated. Whyte first surveys the research on the nature and extent of the community divide and then discusses various ideological interpretations, including unionist, nationalist, and Marxist. He assesses the various solutions that have been proposed and critically examines what the research has achieved.

About this title

Review

Here, inside one set of covers, is the most intelligent, measured, intellectually sophisticated commentary on the vast subject of interpreting Northern Ireland that has yet appeared. No book could really fill the requirements for this prize more. (Professor Roy Foster, Chairman of the Judges, Ewart-Biggs Prize)

a sorely needed guide to that mass of literature and comment. This is a comprehensive and objective analysis, which will prove essential study for anyone who wishes to write intelligently about Northern Ireland and its difficulties (British Book News)

Synopsis

Relative to its size Northern Ireland is possibly the most heavily researched area on earth; hundreds of books and thousands of articles have been published since the current troubles began in the mid 1960s. John Whyte had been studying Northern Ireland since the mid-1960s. In Interpreting Northern Ireland he provides a badly-needed guide to the mass of literature and comment. In Part I, he surveys the research on the nature and extent of the community divide, examining in turn the religious, economic, political, and psychological aspects of the issue. In Part II he discusses ideological interpretations of the Northern Ireland problem, from unionist and nationalist to Marxist. In the final section of the book he surveys the various solutions that have been proposed and looks critically at what the mass of research has achieved. He suggests that if it has not achieved more it may be because it has sometimes asked the wrong questions.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press, U.S.A.
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0198273800
• ISBN 13: 9780198273806
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 330