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£14.99
Published
3 March 2026
Hardback
9781913083366
Ebook
9781913083373
Press Release
Coming soon.
By James Hawes:

 

‘After his masterpieces on Germany and England, James Hawes has done it again. Somehow he manages to condense the wildly complex histories of ancient peoples into something that can be read in an afternoon… Whatever your view, the skill with which this version of the story is told in this special book is a delight.’ CIARAN MARTIN, OXFORD UNIVERSITY

James Hawes’s The Shortest History of Ireland is based at every step on the latest scholarship, but it’s all brought together, for once, as a fluent story, as captivating as a novel, galloping from the Ice Age to the present, using language, graphics and images accessible to all. It will change the way people see the Irish past, flipping usual practice on its head and placing Ireland at the centre not just of Irish but British and at times even European history.

Hawes concludes by arguing that if Ireland can now sidestep the last, toxic wreckage of the British Empire, its eventful past will flow into a bright future. From the bestselling author of The Shortest History of Germany and The Shortest History of England, this is popular history at its thrilling best.

Old Street Publishing The Shortest History of Ireland

‘After his masterpieces on Germany and England, James Hawes has done it again. Somehow he manages to condense the wildly complex histories of ancient peoples into something that can be read in an afternoon… Whatever your view, the skill with which this version of the story is told in this special book is a delight.’ CIARAN MARTIN, OXFORD UNIVERSITY

James Hawes’s The Shortest History of Ireland is based at every step on the latest scholarship, but it’s all brought together, for once, as a fluent story, as captivating as a novel, galloping from the Ice Age to the present, using language, graphics and images accessible to all. It will change the way people see the Irish past, flipping usual practice on its head and placing Ireland at the centre not just of Irish but British and at times even European history.

Hawes concludes by arguing that if Ireland can now sidestep the last, toxic wreckage of the British Empire, its eventful past will flow into a bright future. From the bestselling author of The Shortest History of Germany and The Shortest History of England, this is popular history at its thrilling best.

 14.99
 
 

‘Fresh, invigorating and a challenge to many of the orthodoxies of Irish history writing. Hawes’s thoroughly well-researched narrative simultaneously enlightens and provokes. I wholeheartedly recommend it’
—PÓL Ó DOCHARTAIGH, PROFESSOR OF EUROPEAN HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY

 
 
  • ‘Using evidence from history, archaeology, linguistics and even DNA analysis, Hawes superbly charts the development of Irish society from earliest prehistory right up to modern times.’
    —DR KIERAN O’CONOR, UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY
  • 'No one writes history as well as Hawes’
    —NICK COHEN
  • 'I've read 100s of books on English history but this is the first one that clearly explains the North/South divide. Everyone who lives here should read it'
    —CHRISTOPHER FOWLER on The Shortest History of England
  • 'Sharp and vivid and extremely persuasive'
    —PHILIP PULLMAN on The Shortest History of England
 
 
James Hawes

James Hawes is the bestselling author of The Shortest History of Germany and The Shortest History of England, as well as Brilliant Isles: Art that Made Us, and six novels.