These Divided Isles: Britain and Ireland, Past and Future

Evoking the tumultuous history of the relationship between Britain and Ireland, These Divided Isles investigates the complexities of culture and colonization to ask what the future holds for both countries.

Ireland is Britain's closest neighbor--the sea crossing from Scotland measures only twelve miles. Ireland was also its first conquered territory in what became Britain's empire. The two nation's stories have been intertwined since Anglo-Norman invaders crossed the Irish Sea during the twelfth century.

These Divided Isles tells the extraordinary history of the past century in this tumultuous relationship, from the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1922 to the present day. This is a tale of deep division between Catholic nationalism and Protestant unionism, of wars and terrorist violence, and of occasional moments of great courage on the part of British and Irish leaders.

Today, the post-Brexit weakening of the UK's constitutional ties has coincided with the march of demography in Northern Ireland as the Protestant unionist majority continues to shrink. Sinn Féin's historic string of electoral victories in Northern Ireland since 2022 has once more resurfaced the unfinished business of partition. Here, Philip Stephens explores how Ireland might escape its troubled past by deploying history to inform the future rather than hold it in place.

Author: Philip Stephens
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 12/02/2025
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.14h x 6.07w x 1.27d
ISBN: 9798897100057


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 10/01/2025

About the Author
Philip Stephens is an award-winning journalist and contributing editor at the Financial Times, where he was previously director of the Editorial Board and chief political commentator. Both British and Irish, having been brought up in London with roots in Co Mayo, his illustrious career has landed him unique access to foreign policymakers in Britain and around the world. Stephens has won the David Watt Prize for Outstanding Political Journalism and Political Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards. He is the author of Politics and the Pound, Tony Blair and Britain Alone, but These Divided Isles is his first book to be published in America. Philip lives in England.