History goes marching by
There is the danger – as with similar but not quite so ambitious studies – that the experts in each era will challenge the accuracy of a history drawn with such broad and bold brushstrokes. But whatever about those who might wait in the long grass to nit-pick, and there may be good scholarly reasons for doing so, Prof Tom Bartlett has written an elegant and stylish book which takes the general reader and specialist alike through the centuries with pace, assurance and the self-deprecation of a scholar who knows how to weigh and balance arguments in such a way as to dispel the complacency or doctrinaire attitudes of those coming to the text thinking they know it all and that history is nothing more than catechism – or rote learning.
The publishers, Cambridge University Press, and the author, have striven to bring this work to the widest possible international readership. The cover, a very well chosen detail of a stunning Paul Henry painting, is as attractive as it is effective. It is universally recognisable as Ireland. Like all good covers, it makes one want to pick up the book. CUP have not stinted on well-chosen illustrations which add greatly to the enjoyment of reading the crisply-written text. The size of the print is large enough to read without having to strain. The book is well structured. Divided into seven chapters, each has a very helpful introduction or overview of the general argument to be deployed. This provides a ready explanation of general historiographical trends for those readers who are not specialists. The author synthesises his arguments at the end of each chapter. Bartlett, like the experienced teacher that he is, has a way of keeping a reader on his or her toes. He summarises complex historical debate in an accessible style and with a contemporary frame of reference which will appeal to a broad international readership.
