"Was the Easter Rising a useless waste? Yes it was to everyone except those who wished to promote armed struggle (Exactly the same could be said about "The Troubles"). Would Ireland have gained home rule and then total independence had there been no Easter Rising yes it would the Bill was already on the statue books. Would the North have still elected to break away, yes in all probability it would as it's industry, commerce and culture was more aligned to the mainland than that of the South and they would naturally look to their own best interests."

Nothing like a nice bit of theory. Lots of what-ifs there.

The recording and interpretation of history is replete with partiality, imperialism, political tendentiousness and revisionism. And some very good work. Squabbling about sources says a lot about your own desire to see things the way you've already decided. Dickens was a storyteller who told us a lot about the ordinary lives of Victorians. Woody Guthrie was a storyteller who told us a lot about the privations of exploited people. A storyteller isn't a liar any more than a biased historian is a liar. The latter can be somewhat harder to detect. Your hardback book with luxury dustcover sitting on the shelf of a respected bookshop could be a prime part of the deceit . Easy enough to select as your main source if you're of a certain mind. The hardest thing is to ditch your preconceptions and let all of them grab your attention equally. A PhD in history never made an honest man of anyone.