Chief Secretary for Ireland in the last months of the Balfour government in 1905, a Unionist leader with many friends and supporters in southern Ireland, and a politician who held ministerial office in the wartime coalition governments, Long had great influence in establishing attitudes toward Ireland. John Kendle shows that whatever hopes Irish Unionists cherished of combatting the home rule movement depended in great part on the support of individuals such as Long. Covering the fifteen years during which Long was closely caught up in Irish affairs, Walter Long, Ireland, and the Union, 1905 1920 provides an analysis of Long's attitudes and actions, and underlines his contribution to the resolution of the political and constitutional dilemma confronting the United Kingdom. Kendle concludes that Long, by advocating a federal solution to Anglo-Irish problems, was a principal architect of the partition of the United Kingdom and the post-1922 constitutional map of the British Isles.

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"An understanding of Long's behaviour and evolution of English Unionist opinion is critical to a full appreciation of how Ireland gained release from British control during the war and its aftermath. This account succeeds, by delving into the Long Papers and other primary sources, in conveying much of that story of hapless resistance ... It is well researched and lucidly written." John D. Fair, Department of History, Auburn University at Montgomery. "The principal fresh contribution of this book derives from Kendle's use of Long's papers and his skill in reconstructing the tortuous route of Anglo-Irish relations during their most dramatic modern phase by focusing on the role of the leading English Unionist." George Egerton, Department of History, University of British Columbia.

"An understanding of Long's behaviour and evolution of English Unionist opinion is critical to a full appreciation of how Ireland gained release from British control during the war and its aftermath. This account succeeds, by delving into the Long Papers and other primary sources, in conveying much of that story of hapless resistance ... It is well researched and lucidly written." John D. Fair, Department of History, Auburn University at Montgomery.
"The principal fresh contribution of this book derives from Kendle's use of Long's papers and his skill in reconstructing the tortuous route of Anglo-Irish relations during their most dramatic modern phase by focusing on the role of the leading English Unionist." George Egerton, Department of History, University of British Columbia.