The Partition

A model of research and analysis … Townshend’s concise and intelligent book … tells a painful story that is probably not yet over. – Simon Heffer * Daily Telegraph *A layered and mostly fair assessment of the dynamics, deal, prejudices and delusions that created the Border in Ireland … This is a timely and important book, not just because of the centenary of the creation of Northern Ireland but because so much of its content remains relevant to understanding contemporary preoccupations and controversies. – Diarmaid Ferriter * Irish Times *The completion of the trilogy is delivered with Townshend’s characteristic scholarly panache … he brings into unforgiving focus the carelessness, double-dealing and myopia which has bedevilled Britain’s government of Ireland … laconic but conclusive. – Roy Foster * The Spectator *Townshend, a leading scholar of modern Irish history, has written an authoritative study of the origins of Ireland’s partition. – Tony Barber * Financial Times *An important book that provides not only a background to events one hundred years ago but is highly relevant to events that are still unfolding today … Well written, full of insights and impressively topical. – Taylor Downing * Aspects of History *

Charles Townshend is the author of the highly praised Easter 1916- The Irish Rebellion and The Republic- The Fight for Irish Independence, 1918-1923. The Partition forms the third part of his trilogy on how Ireland became independent. His other books include When God Made Hell- The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Making of Iraq, 1914-21.