Northern Ireland is frequently characterised in terms of a two traditions paradigm, representing the conflict as being between two discrete cultures. Demonstrating the reductionist nature of this argument, this book highlights the complexity of reality.

Roman legions rang Celtic Europe's death-knell and orchestrated Celtic Britain's swansong, provoking Queen Boudicea's massive anti-Roman revolt which resulted in "the worst disaster to befall the Roman Empire" — all of which had a huge bearing on the rise of Celtic Ireland. This book presents Turoe's Celtic Royal complex, unprecedented for its size and layout, but akin to Belgic oppida (as named by Caesar) in SE England and NW Europe. It hosts the Turoe Stone, Europe's most celebrated La Tene-decorated stone. No one knew why this classic masterpiece of Celtic stone art was set on Turoe's summit in the West of Ireland. Here its hitherto unrecognized Royal Sanctuary trappings at the centre of a vast Belgic oppidum defensive system of linear embankments uniquely connected to the Celtic invasion of Ireland and its archaic history are unfolded. It is recorded in early dindshenchas (history of the famous places) and associated with the names of archaic kings and queens. The first record of it is by the renowned 1st/2nd century Greek geographer, Ptolemy of Alexandria, who listed 2 capitals in Ireland, the only 2 in his day. One is Emain Macha near Armagh. The other was never definitively identified. He located it roughly in central Co. Galway where Turoe is. He named it REGIA E TERA (Te[mh]ra), the genuine early Celtic name for 'Capital at Turoe' (Cnoc Temhro). It had an acropolis and several necropoli, including those around Athenry cited in archaic texts in the Book of Leinster as ‘Releg na Rí lamh le Cruachain' where members of Turoe's Royal Household (Rígrád Temhróit) were interred, such as Queen Medb and her father, Eochaid Ferach Mhor whose palace, Rath Ferach Mhor, stood beside the Turoe Stone. Part of its sprawling urban-like complex flanking Turoe and Knocknadala (Assembly/­Parliament Hill) is placed under preservation order by The National Monuments Department. Ptolemy renders Knocknadala (early Cnoc na nDál) as NAG-NA-TA[L], "the most illustrious 'city' (polis) in all Britannia, and most considerable in size, located in the west of Ireland." The sole reference to a dense population in early Irish literature points to this area. Ancient roadways, Slí Mhór and Slí Dála, converged on Turoe/Knocknadala. Rót na Ri, Royal Road of the Kings, ran from Turoe to the great seaport of Ath Cliath Magh Rí in Galway Bay. Dindshenchas texts state that "Ath Cliath Magh Rí was the chief seaport of Ireland through which Ireland has most often been invaded." A large segment of the Celtic invasion force landed there and advanced on Turoe, the core of its primary settlement area, as recorded in the Dindshenchas of Cnoc na Dála. Continental and British Belgic tribes are remembered in townland names within this vast Turoe oppidum complex. It was suppressed by pseudo-historians who set the Irish race on the cutting edge of woeful ignorance about its Celtic roots as Armagh's monastic conmen concocted scheming stews of sheer political propaganda to win the patronage of powerful warlords. The enforced Irish exile of King Dagobert II shows the depth of involvement of Armagh-linked Abbots in Frankish politics through whom Pepin's new national Over Kingship of the Franks profoundly impacted the genesis of Ireland's High King-ship/Tara/Patrick myth. As E. Breathnach noted "The culmination of the creation of the medieval myth surrounding Tara ensured Tara would be regarded from the late 10th/11th century as the monument of the Kingship of Ireland. Tara's potency as a political symbol was evoked to the extent that by the 17th century it was depicted as one of the institutions on which the Kingship of Ireland had rested from time immemorial" (Edel Breathnach, 'Cultural Identity of Tara' in Discovery Programme Reports').

The 1998 Belfast Agreement promised to release citizens of Northern Ireland from the grip of paramilitarism. However, almost a decade later, Loyalist paramilitaries were still on the battlefield. After the Peace examines the delayed business of Loyalist demilitarization and explains why it included more fits than starts in the decade since formal peace and how Loyalist paramilitary recalcitrance has affected everyday Loyalists. Drawing on interviews with current and former Loyalist paramilitary men, community workers, and government officials, Carolyn Gallaher charts the trenchant divisions that emerged during the run-up to peace and thwart demilitarization today. After the Peace demonstrates that some Loyalist paramilitary men want to rebuild their communities and join the political process. They pledge a break with violence and the criminality that sustained their struggle. Others vow not to surrender and refuse to set aside their guns. These units operate under a Loyalist banner but increasingly resemble criminal fiefdoms. In the wake of this internecine power struggle, demilitarization has all but stalled. Gallaher documents the battle for the heart of Loyalism in varied settings, from the attempt to define Ulster Scots as a language to deadly feuds between UVF, UDA, and LVF contingents. After the Peace brings the story of Loyalist paramilitaries up to date and sheds light on the residual violence that persists in the post-accord era.

These essays examine the importance of historical consicousness and the role of historiography in ‘ethnic’ situations, exploring the many ways in which ethnic groups select history, write or rewrite it, rescue appropriate or ignore it, forget or traduce it. Drawing on expert knowledge of regions ranging from the Amazon to contemporary Germany, the contributors bring anthropological and historical understanding to answer these questions, and investigate major topics such as the relationship between ethnic, national and state identifications, and the cultural work of creating them. Examples include Afrikaaners and Northern Ireland Protestants, as well as Mormons and Catalans. Bringing together a variety of themes that have recently become the focus of study – ethnicity, the uses and nature of history and the likelihood of objectivity in historical telling – the book will be of great interest ot students in the social sciences, anthropology, politics, history and international relations.

This is the opening volume in a study concerning the social history of the Killowen area of Coleraine town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. This volume concentrates on environmental determinism, the first settlements and the longest surviving family group in the area, the O'Cahans (O'Kanes)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 145-148) and index.

Many analyses of Ireland's past and present are couched in colonial terms. For some, it is the only framework for understanding Ireland. Others reject the label. This study evaluates and analyzes the situation.

This work stretches from deep prehistoric times up to the 12th century AD and beyond. After a short preamble from the Megalithic to the Bronze Age, scanning Tara’s Golden Age, it deals with Celtic Europe’s decline due to Roman and Germanic conquest. It follows Celtic tribes fleeing to Britain and Ireland, where they set up settlements. Ptolemy of Alexandria’s 2nd-century record debunks early Irish pseudo-history and ratifies the archaic Ulidian Tales. This work exposes the monumental hoax projecting Tara of Meath as the capital of Ireland and the seat of the High Kingship. The work draws on a compelling compilation of acclaimed authors and specialist studies that list the aforesaid as a medieval forgery. Prehistoric Tara had a much older status, an archaic Golden Age. This work tracks extensive research and archaeological analysis into British oppida, from which Celtic Belgic tribes migrated and set up similar oppida in Ireland. A concentration on the early history of these neglected areas was at the core of the early Irish historical records.

Sectarian murder, torture, bloody power struggles and racketeering are what for many define their image of the Ulster Defence Association. Yet as Northern Ireland's Troubles worsened in 1971 and 1972, it emerged with a mass membership to defend Loyalist areas against the IRA and to uphold the Union with Britain. By 1974 it was able to defy the will of an elected government and it went on to formulate political strategies for working-class Loyalism.Ian S. Wood uses his specialist knowledge as well as extensive interviews to recount these events and the ruthless war waged by the UDA on the nationalist community. He explores issues such as the UDA's descent into criminality and its relationship with the 'secret war' conducted by Britain's undercover services and he assesses what impact the organisation had on the outcome of Europe's worst political and ethnic conflict between 1945 and the break-up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia after 1990.

The Routledge Handbook of the Northern Ireland Conflict and Peace is the first multi-authored volume to specifically address the many facets of the 30-year Northern Ireland conflict, colloquially known as the Troubles, and its subsequent peace process. This volume is rooted in opening space to address controversial subjects, answer key questions, and move beyond reductive analysis that reproduces a simplistic two community theses. The temporal span of individual chapters can reach back to the formation of the state of Northern Ireland, with many starting in the late 1960s, to include a range of individuals, collectives, organisations, understandings, and events, at least up to the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement in 1998. This volume has forefronted creative approaches in understanding conflict and allows for analysis and reflection on conflict and peace to continue through to the present day. With an extensive introduction, preface, and 45 individual chapters, this volume represents an ambitious, expansive, interdisciplinary engagement with the North of Ireland through society, conflict, and peace from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, theoretical frameworks, and methodological approaches. While allowing for rich historical explorations of high-level politics rooted in state documents and archives, this volume also allows for the intermingling of different sources that highlight the role of personal papers, memory, space, materials, and experience in understanding the complexities of both Northern Ireland as a people, place, and political entity.