Richard English is the author of numerous acclaimed books on Irish politics and history. He is Professor of Politics at Queen's University Belfast, and has frequently received awards for his research (from the British Academy, the Nuffield Foundation, the Arts and Humanities Research Board, and the Economic and Social Research Council). His Ernie O'Malley: IRA Intellectual (Oxford University Press, 1998) was short-listed for the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize in 1999, and was enthusiastically reviewed by many leading scholars:

Joanna Bourke: 'Richard English's cool, elegant prose and subtle argumentation raise this book above sectarian politics and provide academics, students, and the general reader with a fascinating insight into Irish republican thought and practice between the Easter Rising and the 1950s ... an exciting, stirring tale of human weakness, struggle, and hope'

Declan Kiberd: 'This well-researched book is consistently moving and often wise. As the people of Ireland come to terms with overlapping identities, they will have much to learn from it'

Roy Foster: 'innovative and perceptive ... a fascinating thematic study'
Michael Hopkinson: `essential reading for students of twentieth-century Ireland'.

Richard English has written frequently for papers such as the Times Literary Supplement, the Times Higher Educational Supplement and Newsweek magazine, and has done much commentary on Irish politics and history for the Irish, British and international media. He has frequently lectured on Irish politics, having been invited many times to speak in Oxford, London, New York, Washington, Chicago and San Francisco, as well as at venues throughout Ireland.

Winner of the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize 2007

Winner of the Political Studies Association of Ireland Book Prize 2007

Long-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize 2007

Long-Listed for the Duff Cooper Prize 2007

Richard English's brilliant new book is a compelling narrative history of Irish nationalism, in which events are not merely recounted but analysed.

Full of rich detail, drawn from years of original research and also from the extensive specialist literature on the subject, it offers explanations of why Irish nationalists have believed and acted as they have, why their ideas and strategies have changed over time, and what effect Irish nationalism has had in shaping modern Ireland. It takes us from the Ulster Plantation to Home Rule, from the Famine of 1847 to the Hunger Strikes of the 1970s, from Parnell to Pearse, from Wolfe Tone to Gerry Adams, from the bitter struggle of the Civil War to the uneasy peace of the early twenty-first century.

Is it imaginable that Ireland might - as some have suggested - be about to enter a post-nationalist period? Or will Irish nationalism remain a defining force on the island in future years?