Product Description

Reprinted 2008 with corrections and New Green Cover

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #512083 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
This spirited new account of Oliver Cromwell s Irish Campaign of 1649-50 is based upon close reading of printed primary sources, especially Thomas Carlyle s edition of Cromwell s letters and speeches, and a wide range of secondary works... in each case beginning by setting out a number of myths, misunderstandings, and misconceptions and then seeking to correct and demythologise those points... Some of these myths and false ideas are quite easily and quickly disposed of... the author s vigorous reinvestigation ruefully but surely correctly notes that it suited both nations to magnify the actions of Cromwell in Ireland, in ways that prostituted history to political and religious propaganda --Leading History Professor

Customer Reviews

History based on factual evidence
The Stories of Cromwell in Ireland are the stuff of Myths and Legends.
This book factually disputes some of the spin and legend created about Cromwell in Ireland, and reflects some of interests of the parties involved.

It shows that some of the controversy surrounding Cromwell is to say the least not factually based, and perhaps may be biased reflecting the opinions of the Catholic Church, Rich and wealthy landowners, and the Governments of England, Ireland. This book although sympathetic to the Parliamentary cause, bases its arguments on the factual historiography of the time, rather than the myths and legends that were created and devloped to support alternative views and perspectives..

One of the main points ignored by most historians is the commercial view taken by Cromwell in not killing Irish people, but rather selling them into Slavery in the English Colonies of America to repay the Treasury to offset the costs of the Wars in Ireland.

Another point is the religious,political, and financial obfuscation of the interested parties.

The Idigenous Irish Families and Tribes seeking to recover their lands and position.

The Irish/English, those people born in Ireland of English parentage, and having some claim to position, properties and wealth in both England and Ireland, seeking to recover their lands.

The English Soldiers and Armies of Cromwell, seeking to obtain the land settlement that Cromwell had given them.

In all the above three interested groups there were mixed religious beliefs and practices, including Catholicism and Protestentism.

The book destroys the myths and Legends of the Cromwell, the Protestant Butcher killing Catholics only in Ireland.


The book reflects a high degree of good quality research, that conflicts with several of the leading writers that have maintained the Institutionally biased myths and legends that have kept the myths alive.

The book reflects Cromwell as a man driven by getting results, and driving England into the Republican vision that he had.

An excellent read. History opening its doors on factually based historiography, and challenging some major myths and legends.

Biased and badly, Punctuated...
The new green cover of this edition and the promise of a 'corrected' version holds out the hope that an editor has finally had a look at this book and corrected what must the the worst punctuation I have ever seen in a published book. Now I am not a grammar nazi by any means but the random scattering of commas and occasional random capital letters made the text virtually unreadable in the version I have (with a red cover!). In the end I had to ignore all the commas and read each sentence as a whole, then go back and make sense of it, which makes it hard going, to say the least.
And I wish I could say it's worth the effort, but McKeiver is an unapologetic apologist for Cromwell, who was apparently a very nice guy who never did much wrong to the Irish. There is some attempt to justify this historically, and the book appears to be based on an MA thesis from an Australian university, but it is not presented in a manner which leads you to believe that the arguments are being weighed and a decision made on the basis of those arguments. Rather it seems that McKeiver is determined to prove what a great bloke Cromwell was, and goes all out to defend him at every turn.
Cromwell's Irish campaigns deserve better coverage than they get - I never heard of them when I did history at school, but then the English education system also omits, by and large, to look at the involvement of the Normans, Elizabethans, or any of our later mistreatments of the Irish. But if you want to find out about what happened in Ireland around and after the time of the English Civil War there are better books than this.

Punctuation gone mad!
This valuable piece of research which effectively challenges many of the myths which have grown up around Cromwell's expeditions in Ireland is utterly spoiled by persistent outrageous errors of punctuation. Specifically, commas are used almost indiscriminately without reference to the meaning of phrases and sentences, and semi-colons appear in the middle of sentences.

What a pity that capable proof-readers could not be found before this interesting and informative work went to press!