Richard Carr is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Strategy at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), Cambridge, England. He has authored the books Charlie Chaplin: A Political Biography from Victorian Britain to Modern America, (2017, longlisted for a Kraszna-Krausz book award) and March of the Moderates: Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and the Rebirth of Progressive Politics (2019). He co-authored Alice in Westminster: The Political Life of Alice Bacon (2016, a Guardian newspaper politics book of the year) with Rachel Reeves (MP). He has worked in the think tank and public policy sphere and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. ‘It all happened so long ago’ - contested histories2. A ‘weariness’ among ‘everybody’ – conflict and the road to 19213. The ‘practical experience of administration’ – Cosgrave’s conservatism4. The logical enigma – de Valera’s divergence5. Dissent, descent, and difference in interwar discourse6. ‘English cold’ or a ‘want of immunity – tackling tuberculosis7. Commonwealth and Monarchy8. ‘Hot Air Harps – the American dimension9. ‘Friendly’ neutrality? – the Second World War10. To conserve or change the ‘rigid society’ – the postwar status quo11. Travel, trade and the TroublesConclusionBibliography

"This is a well-written, informative account that identifies a niche in the existing historiography. Beginning in the period leading up to Irish independence, it takes the reader through five decades of the evolving relationship between the Irish Free State / Éire and Britain, covering high politics and constitutional evolution alongside social and cultural change. Whilst different audiences will agree and disagree with elements of its conclusions, notions of citizenship, nationality and migration are particularly well addressed."Dr David Shiels, Former Archives By-Fellow, Churchill College, University of Cambridge"[a] careful and convincing study of the relationship between Britain and Ireland in the mid-twentieth century...The book...contains several useful chapters for scholars and students of modern British and Irish political, economic, social, and cultural history. Carr’s handling of this varied material is deft, maintaining both an empathetic standpoint and a wry tone." Dr Colm Murphy, Senior Lecturer in British Politics, Queen Mary University of London, (Journal of) Modern British History