Was Oliver Cromwell misunderstood? Challenging Irish history and myths

Was Oliver Cromwell misunderstood? Challenging Irish history and myths

From The Indo Daily by Irish Independent

May 4, 2026 · 27 min

About this episode

The episode explores the complexities of Irish history and challenges popular myths, focusing on figures like Oliver Cromwell and Éamon de Valera.

A purposely audacious speed-read, The Shortest History of Ireland attempts to condense the story of this country into just 250 pages. Not only that, author James Hawes has set out to challenge the recorded history of Ireland and debunk some popular myths along the way. Was there more to the murderous Oliver Cromwell than we think? Did Éamon de Valera really sign a book of condolences for Adolf Hitler? And why was Catholic Maynooth loyal to Protestant London? Host: Dave Hanratty Guest: James Hawes See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: Dave Hanratty

Guest: James Hawes

Topics covered

  • Irish history
  • myths
  • Oliver Cromwell
  • Éamon de Valera
  • Catholicism
  • Protestantism

Keywords

  • Irish history
  • Oliver Cromwell
  • Éamon de Valera
  • myths
  • Catholic Maynooth
  • Protestant London
  • James Hawes

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Ireland, Maynooth, London

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