The Battle for Ireland by Norman Davies (2012, taken from Vanished Kingdoms)

As a marketing device Penguin Press offered a chapter of Vanished Kingdoms:  The Rise and Fall of States and Nations on Netgalley.com.   The selection is about 50 pages, the book 828 pages.   Based on this sample I would not accept a free copy of this book and I would advise anyone who desires historical work that is above the level of TV shows for all ages to avoid this book.   You could easily condense all the real content to five pages.   It shows only the most superficial grasp of Irish cultural history and is significantly less informative than Wikipedia is on the same subjects. It has a kind of condescending feel toward Ireland that is offensive.    Perhaps the other sections of the book are better but I doubt it.   

One of the reviewers on Amazon described the book as a "pedantic bore", another as "rambling".

Norman Davies C. M. G., F. B. A. is Professor Emeritus of the University of London, a Supernumerary Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, and the author of several books on Polish and European history, including God's Playground, White Eagle, Red Star, The Isles, Europe, and Microcosm.

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