A Short History of Ireland Part 1

By: Dr Jonathan Bardon

Narrated by: Frances Tomelty

Length: 22 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

In the wake of its 30th birthday celebrations in 2006, BBC Radio Ulster marked the beginning of a new broadcasting era by embarking on the station's most ambitious project to date: a recounting of the history of Ireland.

For easy digestion, the story of the island is told in a series of 240 short documentaries - starting with the Ice Age and the arrival of the first humans through to the outbreak of the Second World War.

©2008 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2008 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

If you want to learn about Ireland/Family

What did you love best about A Short History of Ireland?

I loved the history and the way it was presented. I'm a genealogist/family historian and have visited a few times, to hear the names of places I've visited and know, put in to the context of history is fascinating. The presentation for this audio was great too ...

Massive effort, well worth it

Balanced, well constructed, beautifully presented, brilliant production! I was rivited all the way. The repetition from one episode to the next stops after a while and is only in places where it is required. To have Irish history, so well presented was just perfect...thanks!

An Excellent Synopsis of Irish History

A well documented history from the very beginning to present day, how we got here...very interesting informative and enjoyable to read.

Very interesting read

The reading of the material is well done. The information is fun and given in a very friendly manner that would appeal to just about anyone with a history of Celtic culture.

The only negative I have is that the bedanged thing stops every 20 minutes or so and gives a long (and after 244 times) very tiresome lead in that this is A Short History of Ireland in 244 parts by the BBC or something along those lines. It gets super-old!

Still, it is a good read. We listened to it during a carpool last month with kids from 10 to adults and everyone enjoyed it.

loved it

from storytelling to presentation 5 stars for sure...would love a sequel covering from 1930 to 2020

Aggravating chapter breaks

The history is fascinating but the same voice speel during the chapter breaks was really horrible.

Two small complaint

An outstanding series.. Sorry to come to the end... However,.the ending seems blunt and unsatisfactory.... Wish there had been an afterward or summation....

Also, disappointing that the last 30 sections did not include a section bumper and the section number and section title.......

Great cursory history

At first I was put off by the multiple narrators, but I soon found that I appreciated the diversity of voices and production. For a descendant of Irish immigrants and I found this overview of Ireland illuminating and a great starting point to learn more.

Brings Ireland to life...

...in 240 episodes just like it says. This history is told in an informative, entertaining and very well presented documentary format. By documentary format, it brings a nice mix of theatrical presentation with a succinct storytelling style. The music and background sounds do not overpower the story, they add a pleasant sense of style and/or "feel" for the mood of the times being presented.

It does not attempt to present the history in textbook form. Given that it is trying to provide an overview of Irish history from the Ice Age to the start of World War II, I was not sure what to expect. BBC Radio Ulster has given us an admirably detailed while still broad in scope history of Ireland. What I got may not be all inclusive, but I'm happy with the investment.

Comprehensive, excellent history of Ireland

What made the experience of listening to A Short History of Ireland the most enjoyable?

The combination of voice actors alternating narration made this a much more than interesting history to listen to. In addition, the short-ish and titled chapters (each 5- 10 minutes long), and the occasional background music and sound effects enhance the narration. Although "A Short History of Ireland" is a misnomer as it runs over 22 hours it is always interesting. I listened to this an hour a day walking my dog over the month preceding a trip to Ireland and it was a perfect preamble for pre-trip prepping on the political, military, and cultural history of the country.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Short History of Ireland?

Hearing about Georg Frederick Handel's debut of his "Messiah" in Dublin in 1742 was fascinating and it was delivered with clips of the music in the background. Great history!

Which scene was your favorite?

Handel's "Messiah", the Flight of the Earls, the failed efforts of Spain and France to support Ireland vs. English domination, many more.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Cromwell and Famine times are very well explained and particularly sad, but mostly the whole book was filled with fascinating history that illuminated rather than hit emotional highs and lows.

Any additional comments?

The two flaws are that it ends at World War II so the post-war "Troubles" and peace-making efforts are not covered, and, it is divided into 240 chapters (it apparently was made for BBC Ulster radio for one chapter a day to run on radio), each chapter of which is introduced with a repetitive "This is a short history of Ireland in 240 chapters." I appreciated the different chapters, each covering a theme in 5 - 10 minutes and with an explanatory title, but repeating "This is a short history of Ireland in 240 chapters" over and over is annoying. Luckily, the chapterization on my downloaded version stopped at about chapter 200, so the rest of the way there were no more chapters or repeats of that phrase.Overall, this is a wonderful and comprehensive history of Ireland (albeit only up until the mid-20th century), brilliantly narrated, and I highly recommend it. Back from Ireland I am re-listening to it and enjoying and learning from it again.