A Short History of Ireland Part 1

De: Dr Jonathan Bardon

Narrado por: Frances Tomelty

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

A long history in bite size bits

This is a wonderful overview of Irish history but be warned that:

Written for broadcast in Ulster, it emphasizes "local" (Ulster) history

The introductions to each brief episode are endlessly repeated until the last section when they mysteriously disappear

As a radio broadcast there is no place for notes or citations so you hear the work of distinguished historians cited or quoted from without credit

The Great Hunger--so important to Irish Americans--is described clearly and concisely, but is just one episode in Ireland's extraordinary history so is only fifteen minutes in more than twenty hours

The history only comes up through the Second World War

This list of qualifications seems like more reservations than this very fine overall effort deserves

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.

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.......

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.