Nationalism and Independence Selected Irish Papers, Nicholas Mansergh and Diana Mansergh (ed.). (Cork University Press, £45 hb, £14.95 pb) ISBN 1 85918 105 8, 1 85918 10 6 6

Nicholas Mansergh was one of the last great historians of empire. He thus wrote with more elegance than Gibbon but with the dry wit of one who has witnessed folly amid the collapse of kings and princes. In a wonderful diary entry of 29 June 1937, the twenty-seven year old Mansergh cynically records a luncheon ... Read more