In the opening pages of his latest book, Robert Lynch rightly observes that there are few dedicated histories of partition among the plethora of literature on the Irish revolutionary period. In large part, the unwillingness of historians to engage fully with this Augean episode of Irish history has been as a result of the contested nature of partition and the subsequent outbreak of the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland. Consequently, much of the existing literature on the topic has been largely governed not by historical integrity, but as an implement to endorse or delegitimise the existence of the two states which emerged in the aftermath of the settlement. Lynch is undoubtedly correct in his assertation that Irish partition ‘remains a woefully misunderstood and under-researched area of Irish history’ (p. 227), and he attempts simultaneously to address this dearth of research and restore academic integrity within this subfield.

Lynch's central thesis argues that the ‘two nations’ interpretation of history has led to partition being portrayed as ‘the logical, if crude, conferral of statehood on already homogenous communities’ (p. 10), whereas ‘in reality, partition was a chaotic, confused and, at times, surreal process’ (p. 11). To structure his account of the inchoate process, Lynch breaks down his analysis into three distinct parts. The first recaps the events of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century, tracing the discourse of the broader Irish question and the home rule settlements. Here he grapples with the different conceptions of Ireland that were in play during the period and expresses the view that only ‘half a revolution’ took place between 1910 and 1918. He presents a compelling argument that the idea of the ‘Ulsterisation of Irish Unionism’ was a fallacy, noting that the decline in the power of the landed gentry and rise of corporate elites in the north-east was part of a broader continental trend. Simultaneously, whilst unionists existed across the island of Ireland, a continental shift towards mass political movements further disenfranchised the scattered pockets of southern unionists from visible political participation (p. 20).

Disappointingly though, whilst Lynch provides great swathes of evidence against the view that ‘Ireland had at its heart an innate, natural division’, his claims that the idea of partition became a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ are less grounded in evidence (p. 57). In this regard, Lynch's work would benefit from greater reference to the broader international history of partition; whilst partition may have had few precedents in 1912 when Thomas Agar-Robartes initially verbalised his fleeting notion of a partitionist solution, by 1920 attitudes towards partition had fundamentally shifted. Prior to the First World War, the image of partition had been stained by the disastrous aborted partition of Bengal between 1905 and 1911, yet had been normalised by the successive partitions of Macedonia (1913), Tyrol (1915) and by the partition of the German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires (1919) after their defeat in the First World War. As a result of this, coupled with the rise of the Wilsonian ideal of the inalienable right of nations to self-determination, partition had emerged as an effective imperial tool to resolve imperial and/or national problems.

The second section examines the actual process of partition itself. Here Lynch's work makes its most valuable contribution to the historiography. First, he slices skilfully through the Gordian knot of high politics related to Irish partition and in doing so succinctly lays out the partition process. This is then built upon with a revealing account of the grassroots violence across the partition line and within the new territories it created. A prime example of the latter was the mass rioting and inter-communal violence which saw Belfast suffer the highest fatality rate per capita of any part of Ireland in 1922 (p. 99). The inclusion of these case studies is particularly valuable given the tendency of some scholars to depict partition as an administrative project devoid of human suffering which has contributed to the misconceptions of the partition process.

The final segment of the book concludes by assessing the consolidation of partition, including the conclusion of the Boundary Commission in 1925. Lynch discusses ‘moving minorities’ including a brief but valuable discussion of partition refugees on both sides of the border – a topic in itself worthy of further research. This is also complemented by an astute examination of state-building exercises undertaken by the two nascent states. In particular, Lynch highlights the origins of ‘Ulster exceptionalism’ within the historiography of Northern Ireland (p. 221).

Definitionally, partition is a political process which involves the redrawing of a boundary through a national homeland. This work excellently interweaves the forgotten trauma of individuals with that of the wider political discourse on the partition of Ireland. It is in highlighting the forgotten narratives of the ordinary people who experienced partition that this work shines brightest. As we approach the centenary of partition and contemporary politicians grapple with the awkward legacies which it left behind, Lynch's work is a thought-provoking and refreshing contribution to the existing historiography.