The Border: The Legacy of a Century of Anglo-Irish Politics - Softcover

Ferriter, Diarmaid

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1788161793 ISBN 13: 9781788161794

Publisher: Profile Books, 2019

Synopsis

Shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2019

'Anyone who wishes to understand why Brexit is so intractable should read this book. I can think of several MPs who ought to.' The Times

For the past two decades, you could cross the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic half a dozen times without noticing or, indeed, turning off the road you were travelling. It cuts through fields, winds back-and-forth across roads, and wends from Carlingford Lough to Lough Foyle. It is frictionless - a feat sealed by the Good Friday Agreement. Before that, watchtowers loomed over border communities, military checkpoints dotted the roads, and smugglers slipped between jurisdictions. This is a past that most are happy to have left behind but might it also be the future?

The border has been a topic of dispute for over a century, first in Dublin, Belfast and Westminster and, post Brexit referendum, in Brussels. Yet, despite the passions of Nationalists and Unionists in the North, neither found deep wells of support in the countries they identified with politically. British political leaders were often ignorant of the conflict's complexities, rarely visited the border, and privately disliked their erstwhile unionist allies. Southern leaders' anti-partition statements masked relative indifference and unofficial cooperation with British security services.

From the 1920 Government of Ireland Act that created the border, the Treaty and its aftermath, through the Civil Rights Movement, Thatcher, the Troubles and the Good Friday Agreement up to the Brexit negotiations, Ferriter reveals the political, economic, social and cultural consequences of the border in Ireland. With the fate of the border uncertain, The Border is a timely intervention by a renowned historian into one of the most contentious and misunderstood political issues of our time.

About this title

About the Author

Diarmaid Ferriter is one of Ireland's best-known historians and is Professor of Modern Irish History at UCD. His books include The Transformation of Ireland 1900-2000 (2004), Judging Dev: A Reassessment of the life and legacy of Eamon de Valera (2007), Occasions of Sin: Sex and Society in Modern Ireland (2009) and Ambiguous Republic: Ireland in the 1970s (2012). His most recent book is A Nation and not a Rabble: The Irish Revolution 1913-23 (2015) He is a regular broadcaster on television and radio and a weekly columnist with the Irish Times. In 2010 he presented a three-part history of twentieth century Ireland, The Limits of Liberty, on RTE television.

From the Back Cover

A clear and concise history ... Ferriter's judicious book shows that Brexiters' recklessness ... is nothing new, and that it has always been the ordinary people of Northern Ireland who have paid its price.'
Christopher Kissane, Guardian

'An invaluable new addition to the growing canon of Border literature ... a very readable book.'
Darach MacDonald, Irish Times

For the past two decades, you could cross the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic half a dozen times without noticing or, indeed, turning off the road you were travelling. It is frictionless - a feat sealed by the Good Friday Agreement. Before that, watchtowers loomed over border communities, military checkpoints dotted the roads, and smugglers slipped between jurisdictions. This is a past that most are happy to have left behind but might it also be the future?

From the 1920 Government of Ireland Act that created the border, the Treaty and its aftermath, through the Civil Rights Movement, Thatcher, the Troubles and the Good Friday Agreement up to the Brexit negotiations, Ferriter reveals the political, economic, social and cultural consequences of the border in Ireland. With the fate of the border uncertain, The Border is a timely intervention by a renowned historian into one of the most contentious and misunderstood political issues of our time.

'A good starting point for all concerned [with Brexit].'
Colm Larkin, Financial Times

'A riposte to all the blather and bluster written and spoken in recent times about Brexit and backstops and borders.'
Donal O'Donaghue, RTE Guide

Edition details

• Publisher: Profile Books
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1788161793
• ISBN 13: 9781788161794
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192