A History of Ireland in 100 Episodes: Ancient, Medieval and Modern Ireland

by Jonathan Bardon

A sweeping, accessible history of Ireland adapted from Dr Jonathan Bardon’s BBC series.

This authoritative and comprehensive history of Ireland, written by Dr Jonathan Bardon and completed by his former editor Fergal Tobin, covers the entire history of the island from the Ice Age to the Peace Process in 100 short episodes. In this thoughtful analysis of Irish society, Bardon integrates the significant cultural and literary history of Ireland with its political and social histories.

Based on the hugely popular BBC series A Short History of Ireland , each episode stands alone, providing a snippet of Irish history in five minutes’ reading. In turn, reading each episode in sequence from beginning to end provides a magisterial history of Europe’s most western land.

Complete with a new introduction and epilogue, A History of Ireland in 100 Episodes is for anyone looking for a short but authoritative history of the island of Ireland.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Irish Literature, Ireland

288 pages, Hardcover

Published December 18, 2023

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good overview of Ireland from prehistoric origins to the present day, in a very accessible format and style.

There are 100 short (3 or 4 page) chapters each addressing a specific topic, person or event, and presented in chronological order.

So it lends itself very easily to dipping in and out of, although I think to get the most out of it you’re better off reading it in order.

(In fact I think it originated as a podcast, hence the approach).

It’s a good mix of stuff I knew, stuff I had forgotten and stuff I never realised at all. (And to be fair, given the broad scope, there are a few pieces that were not particularly of interest)

Readers looking for in-depth assessment will need to go elsewhere, but that’s fine. And in many instances you may well be prompted to do exactly having had your interest piqued in these pages.

This is a book for the interested lay person rather than the expert historian. Really worthwhile spending some time with this one.

[Peter Marrs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I’ve read numerous books about British history, but until now I knew very little about Irish history. Of course, the two are interlinked in many ways, but it was interesting to read about it from an Irish perspective. A very accessible and worthwhile read.

[kate gottsman · Rating 4 out of 5]

comprehensive but overwhelming.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

The acknowledgments stated that this book was edited with an eye towards allowing anyone, even those with little to no knowledge of the subject, to be able to follow along. Alas.
I did appreciate the bite-sized chapters, though; no one topic really overstayed its welcome.