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Australia: A Very Short Introduction provides a wide-ranging introduction to modern Australia, examining its history, geography, and culture since the beginning of the white settlement of New South Wales in 1788. Drawing attention to the distinctive features of Australian life, this VSI places contemporary developments in an historical perspective, highlighting the importance of Australia's indigenous culture and making connections between Australia and the wider world. Balancing the successful growth of Australian institutions and democratic traditions, the book considers the struggles that occurred in the making of modern Australia and Australia's political and cultural place in the 21st century.Less

Modern Ireland: A Very Short Introduction attempts to answer the Irish Question. The term has become something of a catch-all, a convenient way to encompass numerous issues and developments which pertain to the political, social, and economic history of modern Ireland. No other issue brought down as many nineteenth-century governments and no comparable twentieth-century dilemma has matched its ability to frustrate the attempts of British cabinets to find a solution; this inability to find a lasting answer to the Irish Question is especially striking when seen in the context of the massive shifts in British foreign policy brought about by two world wars, decolonization, and the cold war.Less

From the Plantation of Ulster in the seventeenth century to the entry into peace talks in the late twentieth century the Northern Irish people have been engaged in conflict — Catholic against Protestant, Republican against Unionist. Northern Ireland: A Very Short Introduction explores the pivotal moments in Northern Irish history — the rise of republicanism in the 1800s, Home Rule and the civil rights movement, the growth of Sinn Fein and the provisional IRA, and of the opposition, the Democratic Unionist Party, led by Ian Paisley. It examines the violent upheavals of the last century and culminates in the controversy surrounding the current ongoing peace process.Less

Scotland: A Very Short Introduction explains why Scottish national identity is so distinctive by looking at Scottish history, politics, society, religion, and culture — both past and present. An independent Scottish nation emerged in the Middle Ages, and was irrevocably altered by the Reformation, links with England, Union, tensions between Highland and Lowland society, economic change, and migration. The Scottish diaspora, and Scotland's relationship with Britain, Europe, the US, and the wider world, is also examined, as is Scotland's influence on the development of the modern world. Issues such as devolution, the Scottish economy, and the environment, are also highlighted.Less