Churchill and Ireland - Tapa dura

Intriguing and succinct. (Eamon Delaney, Irish Independent)

Paul Bew's elegant, concise and meticulous study is a timely reminder both of the profound entwinement of Irish and British history and of the interventions made by Britain's most famous 20th-century politician upon the destiny of its neighbouring island. This is also a book of surprises, particularly for readers inculcated with stories of Churchill's hostility to Ireland. (Neil Hegarty, The Daily Telegraph)

[An] informed, balanced study ... As a distinguished Irish historian, Bew brings much knowledge of the Irish background. (Roland Quinault, History Today)

brings the methodology of a scrupulous historian to his task (Peter Clarke, Times Literary Supplement)

The book provides excellent coverage of the 1916-22, and establishes a solid basis for understanding the later period. (Ryle Dwyer, Irish Examiner)

[A] succinct and challenging overview of Winston Churchill's complex relationship with Ireland. (Diarmaid Ferriter, Irish Times)

it is welcome that a historian should decide to tackle this subject, and even more so that it should be Paul Bew [...] This short and engaging book [...] makes an important contribution to Churchill (and Irish) studies. (Dr Iain Sharpe, Journal of Liberal History)

Lord Bew's outstanding, sharply written account sets out, for the first time, how Winston Churchill's intellect, wit and, at times, deviousness, shaped the relationship between Britain and Ireland. [...] Paul Bew alters our perception of the great man by showing for the first time that he determined the shape of the relationship between and within the two islands more than any other British politician. In doing this, he confirms his reputation as one of the foremost Irish historians of his generation. (Lord Lexden, The House Magazine)

a short but absorbing book ... Surprisingly, this is the first major study on a relationship which was literally central to Churchill's family, life and political career. (Keith Simpson, Iain Dale's blog)

Lord Bew is a measured historian of notable experience ... [he] makes a real effort here to paint a well-rounded view of Churchill's relationship with Ireland, warts and all. (JP O'Malley, Irish Independent)

Winston Churchill spent his early childhood in Ireland, had close Irish relatives, and was himself much involved in Irish political issues for a large part of his career. He took Ireland very seriously - and not only because of its significance in the Anglo-American relationship. Churchill, in fact, probably took Ireland more seriously than Ireland took Churchill. Yet, in the fifty years since Churchill's death, there has not been a single major book on his relationship to Ireland. It is the most neglected part of his legacy on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Distinguished historian of Ireland Paul Bew now at long last puts this right. Churchill and Ireland tells the full story of Churchill's lifelong engagement with Ireland and the Irish, from his early years as a child in Dublin, through his central role in the Home Rule crisis of 1912-14 and in the war leading up to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922, to his bitter disappointment at Irish neutrality in the Second World War and gradual rapprochement with his old enemy Eamon de Valera towards the end of his life.

As this long overdue book reminds us, Churchill learnt his earliest rudimentary political lessons in Ireland. It was the first piece in the Churchill jigsaw and, in some respects, the last.