Britain and Ireland recounts the history of the two states – the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (Éire) – and four nations – the Irish, the Welsh, the Scottish and the English – from prehistory to the present.
Chapters are organised chronologically starting in 4000 BCE, coming through the Roman occupation, the Reformation, the Industrial Revolution and the formation of the British Empire. Coming up to the present day, this new edition has expanded material on post-1800 Irish history, with particular emphasis on the Famine, Home Rule, the Irish Civil War, partition, the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement and the Brexit fallout. Later chapters also have increased emphasis on national developments including Thatcherism, Blairism, monarchy, austerity, devolution, the Scottish referendum and international relations with the US, Europe and the Commonwealth, ending with the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and climate change.
Accompanied by illustrations and information boxes, and with an increased selection of documents with questions to challenge students of British and Irish studies, the book presents not only the story of what happened in the British Isles, but its interdependence with Europe and the rest of the world.
Introduction
1. Britons, Celts and Romans, c.4000 BC–AD 410
2. Saxons, Danes and Normans, 410–1154
3. Late-medieval struggles: within the British Isles and on the Continent, 1154–1485
4. Renaissance – reconnaissance – reformation – revolution, 1485–1688/9
5. Towards internal stability and external expansion, 1689–1789
6. Political reforms, Industrial Revolution, imperial rule, 1789–1914
7. The twentieth century: devastation and decline, reconstruction and reorientation, 1914–99
8. The twenty-first century: challenges and perspectives
Biography
Jürgen Kramer is Emeritus Professor of British Cultural Studies at the University of Dortmund. He is the author of Culture and Intercultural Studies (1990), British Cultural Studies (1997) and Taking Stock: 35 Essays from 35 Years of Studying English-Speaking Cultures (2011). A collection of essays entitled Empire, Exile and the Exotic: Studies on Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Conrad and the Sea is in preparation. He co-edited the Journal for the Study of British Cultures (1994–2006).
Praise for the First Edition
"The book provides a stimulating survey of historical developments in British and Irish civilizations through the centuries. It is an example of stunning scholarship and a treasure of information and it gives a better understanding of the complexities and the diversity of contemporary cultures in Britain and Ireland. The needs of all readers, from scholars to pupils and students to the interested layman/-woman, are met."
Joachim Schwend, Leipzig University
"Jürgen Kramer’s text provides an instructive, pedagogically alert and engaging overview of the making of the British nation from earliest times to the present. Underscoring Britain’s historic links with the Continent and exchanges with non-Western cultures, it is well-calculated to appeal to teachers and students of English as a foreign language."
Joyce Senders Pedersen, University of Southern Denmark at Odense
