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Read Ireland Book Reviews, February 2004
Hope and History: Making Peace
in Ireland by Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams has brought the oldest revolutionary movement in Ireland on
an extraordinary journey from armed insurrection to active participation
in government. An author as well as an activist, he brings a vivid sense
of immediacy and a writer’s understanding of narrative to this story of
the triumph of hope in what was long considered an intractable bloody
conflict. He conveys the tensions of the peace process, the sense of teetering
on the brink, and he has a sharp eye and acute ear for them humorous foibles
of political allies and enemies alike. He reveals previously unpublished
details of the peace process: secret contacts with the Catholic Church;
the inside story on the covert talks between republicans and the British
government; the Irish-American role and meetings in the White House; the
importance of the South African role; differences within republicanism
and the emergence of dissidents; the breakdown of the first IRA cessation.
He speaks candidly about being shot, and discloses details of his discussions
with the IRA. He details for the first time ever the secret talks to reinstate
the IRA cessation, involving Irish, British and US governments, the IRA
leadership and then opposition leader Tony Blair; and he describes the
making of the Good Friday Agreement, what was agreed and what was promised.
He paints revealing portraits of the other leading characters in the drama
that was acted out through ceasefires and stand-offs, discussions and
confrontations. Amongst these are Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, Mo Mowlam,
Martin McGuinness, Albert Reynolds, Bill & Hilary Clinton, Jean Kennedy
Smith, David Trimble, John Hume, Nelson Mandela, John Bruton and Charles
Haughey. As the pre-eminent republican strategist of his generation, he
provides the first authentic account of the principles and tactics underpinning
modern Irish republicanism. And in a world where peace processes are needed
more urgently than ever, this book provides a template for conflict resolution
processes internationally.
[ top ]
Women in Ireland: A Century of
Change by Myrtle Hill
During the course of the twentieth-century, life for women in Ireland
changed at an unprecedented rate. Beginning with a ferment of agitation
for basic women’s rights, it culminated in a decade which saw not one
but two women Presidents of Ireland, a reflection of the extent of the
gender transformation that had taken place in only one hundred years.
This book describes how and why these extraordinary changes came about.
Women’s contribution to the great events of the century - the struggle
for Home Rule, the Easter Rising, the War of Independence, the Civil War,
two cataclysmic world wars and the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland
- is revealingly explored. So too are the constraints imposed on women’s
lives by the new constitutional arrangements that emerged in the late
1920s and the unstoppable second wave of feminism that by the 1970s had
put ‘women’s issues’ - equal pay, parliamentary representation, birth
control, abortion, divorce and decent housing - back on the agenda. Scholarly
and passionate, this comprehensive survey is about all a celebration of
the complexity and richness of Irish women’s experience and their role
in shaping Ireland’s recent past.
[ top ]
Translations by Michael Hartnett
For most of his life, Michael Hartnett forded the languages and cultures
of places and ages. He completed his acclaimed version of the 6th-century
Tao when he was twenty-one years old. This book assembles many such elusive
poems- from Irish (Old, Middle and Modern), German, Chinese, Latin, Latvian
and Spanish. Among its riches are ‘The Hag of Beare’, shorter Irish songs
and lyrics, the ‘Gypsy Ballads’, and poems by contemporary writers. Much
of this work has not been previously collected. A bonus of the book is
its presentation for the first time of the works with which this beloved
poet was preoccupied in his final years - poems by Heinrich Heine and
a large selection of lyrics by Catullus. This volume complements his five
collections of translations and reveals the range of a special mind and
makes abundantly clear other facets of a cherished contributor to twentieth-century
literature.
[ top ]
Children of the Far-Flung by Geraldine
O’Connell Cusack
This book is the true account of four generations of a remarkable Irish-American
family, four generations of emigration and return, from Ireland to New
York and back again. It is also the story of the author’s sisters, the
late Deirdre O’Connell, founder and artistic director of the critically
acclaimed Focus Theatre of Dublin -her marriage to singer Luke Kelly,
her successes and failures and her remarkable and long-lasting impact
on theatre in Ireland. In many ways, the books tells a tale common to
thousands of immigrant families who made new lives in the teeming metropolis
of New York City between the 1930s and the 1960s. It describes their ongoing
struggles to walk a tightrope between two cultures - their divided loyalties
between the home they left behind and the new one they were creating in
America - and brings into sharp focus the conflicts that millions of immigrants
face when forced to choose between the two. At its heart, this book is
essential a joyful story, one of faith and endurance, a story laced with
a touch of madness and a spirit of adventure, told with love and affection.
[ top ]
Three Villages by Donal Foley
At last, a new edition of this classic memoir, originally published in
1977, by Donal Foley, creator of ‘Man Bites Dog’, former deputy editor
of The Irish Times and arguably Ireland’s most famous journalist. Donal
Foley’s memoirs are comparable with Laurie Lee’s Cider With Rosie. But
such a comparison is only half the story. Donal’s recollections are indeed
funny, poignant and tender. But he also leads the reader through the great
trauma in Irish history - the strife between Blueshirts and Republicans,
emigration, endemic poverty, the collapse of indigenous Gaelic speaking
communities. The book is more than a memoir, it is a living history of
Ireland by a man who has written about it for three decades.
[ top ]
From the Old Waterford House by
Arthur Power
This is the first paperback edition of this classic autobiography originally
published in 1940. A young man from a wealthy and eminent Waterford family
follows in his father’s footsteps and joins the British Army shortly before
the beginning of World War I. During the war he witnesses the horrors
of the Western Front and becomes a victim of a German gas attack. Seriously
ill, he is sent home to recuperate, and spends some time at his uncle’s
house, ‘Bellevue’ on the banks of the Suir river. He returns to his mother’s
house in Dublin and witnesses the 1916 Rising. Sickened by war, he turns
to Art, and when peace comes he goes to Paris determined to become an
artist. There he meets many well-known artists, including Modigliani,
Maillol and Pascin, and writers Hemingway and Beckett, and becomes a friend
of James Joyce. He is wrenched from this milieu by the death of his aunt
and his inheritance of the estate at Bellevue, to which he returns.
[ top ]
Images of Beckett by John Haynes
and James Knowlson
This book sets John Haynes’ unique repertoire of photographs of Beckett’s
dramatic opus alongside three newly written essays by Beckett’s biographer
and friend, James Knowlson. Haynes captures images of Beckett’s work in
progress and performance and includes hitherto unseen portraits of Beckett
himself. Haynes was privileged to be present at the Royal Court Theatre
in London when Beckett directed his own plays. Among the 75 photographs
are compositions that include the leading interpreters of the plays. Knowlson’s
first essay combines a verbal portrait of Beckett with a personal memoir
of the writer; the second considers the influence of paintings that Beckett
loved or admired on his theatrical imagery; the third offers a detailed,
often first-hand, account of Beckett’s work as a director of his own plays.
The essays are the result of personal conversations with Beckett and attendance
at rehearsals. They provide a unique glimpse into the world of one of
the theatre’s most influential and enduring playwrights.
[ top ]
I Am Of Kerry by Valerie O’Sullivan
To be born in Kerry is an accident of birth over which one has no control.
To then decide to live in the county is a conscious decision that makes
a person a Kingdomite The rest of those born here, but who settle elsewhere,
are spiritual Kerry-persons, whether their home is Dublin, Detroit or
Dubai. They all hold the Kingdom dear in their heart and memory. They
rally to the cause of Kerry at football or other events. They join Kerry
organizations and they visit their Mecca, not once, but many times. The
third group consists of Kerry persons by adoption. That status is conferred
on those who are born elsewhere, but who become ensnared by Kerry and
all it means. They transfer residence to any place west of a line drawn
between Fealesbridge and Kilmakilloge. They are Kerry citizens as much
as if they were born in the Kingdom. They bring new genes to the Kingdom’s
rich genetic pool. And their offspring are proud to be of Kerry. This
book is a magnificent celebration of all things Kerry
[ top ]
An Adventure with Irish Food:
The Tannery Cookbook by Paul Flynn
Paul Flynn, chef-patron of The Tannery Restaurant in Dungarvan, County
Waterford, is renowned for flair, flavours and good food. After spending
time with top chefs gaining expertise in their famous kitchens, Flynn
opened his own restaurant. He now draws inspiration from that experience
and world cuisines to select the finest ingredients and present mouth-watering
dishes. This book presents each of the major ingredients chapter by chapter
in alphabetical order. Each chapter has a cheery pungent essay in the
style of his popular weekly column in the Irish Times Magazine discussing
the ingredient based on Paul’s personal and professional life, followed
by inspiring recipes. Many dishes are deceptively simple and will broaden
the horizons of all who cook. Illustrated with fine photographs, and with
an index listing every ingredient, this is a user-friendly for those who
enjoy reading about food and cooking.
[ top ]
The Silence of Barbara Synge
by W.J. McCormack
The family of playwright J.M. Synge (1871-1909) had a long pedigree in
Ireland, which has never been full examined until now. Taking the apparent
death of Mrs. John Hatch (nee Synge) in 1767 as a starting point, the
author explores the many diverse strands of two family histories in eighteenth-
and early nineteenth-century Ireland. The book is a unique work
of cultural enquiry, combining archival research, literary criticism and
local history. The result is a model for anew kind of literary-historical
project, neither biography nor criticism, not literary history, but a
synthesis of all three. Crucial events in the family’s past are considered
in the light of their influence on J.M. Synge’s writing, from a suicide
in 1769 which is echoed in one of his early plays, to the disastrous consequences
of the Great Famine, which impacted upon Synge’s composition of The Playboy
of the Western World. The author brings to life some colourful characters
amongst the Synge anc estors, such as sometime MP John Hatch, and John
‘Pestalozzi’ Synge, whose religious and educational concerns seem to act
as expiation of the family’s earlier shortcomings and anxieties.
[ top ]
An Army with Banners: The Real
Face of Orangeism by William Brown
‘I came from bible-believing stock, from a people who said what they meant
and meant what they said - an attitude that might too readily be regarded
as typical of the Ulster Protestant.’ In fact, William Brown’s upbringing
was not typical. From a strongly dissenting background, all the
elements of his early life seemed open to challenge and discussion.
‘It was as though I was nurtured in a school of religio-political argument
- with Orangeism on the curriculum.’ Orangeism is a culture and belief
system wider than the institutional Orange Order, but the influence of
the latter is beyond question. Unionism has been shot-through with
Orangeism, so much so that it is often described as Orange-unionism.
The author argues that the time has come for unionists to take stock.
He tells a story and proffers explanations of Orangeism’s eighteenth-century
origins and its developing objectives during the two hundred years of
its history. He explores its religious principles, comparing and
contrasting these with the standards of Christianity and the Reformed
Faith.
[ top ]
On The Outside Looking In: A
Memoir by Sam McAughtry
In 1971 Sam McAughtry was at his lowest ebb - not only was he disillusioned
with politics, he was also struggling to cope with a drink problem.
By 2002 he had become one of Ireland’s most acclaimed writers and broadcasters
and was legendary for his passionate political activism. This forthright
and revealing memoir is the story of that transformation. With honesty
and humour, McAughtry describes how he rebuilt his life and discovered
his talent as a storyteller and a writer. Along the way he gives a vivid
account of his encounters with writers, politicians and celebrities and
of his work as an award-winning journalist for the Irish Times and as
a broadcaster for the BBC and RTE. Never afraid to speak his mind,
McAughtry’s view of politics is candid and refreshingly open. Embracing
his identity as both Irish and British, he was a key member of the Peace
Train Organisation and an influential trade union activist. A Belfastman
through and through, his memoir records his twenty-five-year love affair
with Dublin and is a tribute to the openness he found there. His
election to the Irish Senate, the first person from Northern Ireland to
hold this honour, is a testament to the esteem in which the city and the
Irish people hold him.
[ top ]
Patrick Kavanagh: A Life by Antoinette
Quinn
Seamus Heaney has coupled Patrick Kavanagh (1904-67) with W.B.Yeats as
the two most important figures in twentieth-century Irish poetry.
Patrick Kavanagh was born in County Monaghan, the son of a cobbler-cum-small
farmer. He left school at thirteen but continued to educate himself,
reading and writing poetry in his spare time. In 1929 he began contributing
verses to the Irish Statesman and was soon publishing in Irish and English
journals. His first collection, Ploughman and Other Poems, appeared
in 1936 and was followed by the autobiography The Green Fool (still available
in paperback) in 1938. In 1939 he moved to Dublin where he spent
the rest of his life as a freelance writer. He first emerged as an important
literary voice with his long poem, the Great Hunger, in 1942. Other
collections and the novel Tarry Flynn (also still available in paperback)
appeared in the following decades to growing critical acclaim. Kavanagh
was also part of the social and literary Dublin for almost thirty years
in the company of a gifted generation of writers, among them Flann O’Brien
and Brendan Behan. His position in the history of Irish poetry is
secure. This biography traces his life and work in a comprehensive
and accessible manner, and is essential reading for all interested in
Irish poetry. (Our Book of the Month Non Fiction - December 2001)
[ top ]
Joe Cahill: A Life in the IRA
by Brendan Anderson
Born in Belfast in 1920, Joe Cahill has been an IRA man all his life.
‘I was born in a united Ireland,’ he says. ‘I want to die in a united
Ireland.’ This ambition has motivated his entire life. It has been
a life of imprisonment, of hunger strikes, of being on the run, in safe
houses, in action, and latterly in talks and negotiations. IRA activists
rarely, if ever, speak about their lives or their organization; but in
this book Cahill gives his full and frank story, his viewpoint, his experiences
- from Northern Irish prison cells of the 1940s when the birch and cat-o-nine-tails
were still in use, to the corridors of power in Washington DC when the
Good Friday Agreement was being negotiated. Sentenced to death in 1942,
he describes how he prepared to meet his fate; though reprieved, he remembers
vividly the awful day when his cellmate and close friend was executed.
He tells of the visit he made to Colonel Gaddafi to smuggle arms and ammunition,
and the fateful voyage of the Claudia; Bloody Sunday and the burning of
the British Embassy in Dublin; the high-drama helicopter escape of IRA
prisoners from Mountjoy Jail. He reveals how he rose through the
ranks of the IRA and the circumstances of his deportation from the United
States. This is the story of an extraordinary journey, Cahill’s own life
mirroring the growth, changes and development of the republican movement
as a whole through more than sixty years of intense involvement. (Our
Book of the Month Non Fiction - October 2002).
[ top ]
One Voice: My Life in Song by
Christy Moore
At the heart of his unique book are the lyrics of some 250 songs from
Christy Moore’s career. He began by writing down the lyrics of those songs
most important to him and then alongside each one described their significance
and the memories they evoked. Exploring different times and themes, he
has woven together reflections and stories from every period in his life.
He writes with integrity, humour, warmth and passion that so characterize
him as a performer. There is a rare honesty to his descriptions
of the soaring highs and terrible lows he has experienced in his career,
and an acute awareness of the pitfalls of fame. The many stories
here are funny, touching and wonderfully candid- about his childhood,
music, the people he has encountered, family, times on the road and off
the road, his drinking days and sobriety. Following no strict chronology,
the memories go where the songs lead him, but together they make up a
vivid, extraordinary and absorbing insight into the life of a man who
many regard as Ireland’s greatest musical icon.
[ top ]
The Speckled People by Hugo Hamilton
In one of the finest memoirs to have emerged from Ireland in many years,
the acclaimed novelist Hugo Hamilton brings alive his Germany-Irish childhood
in 1950s Dublin. Between his father’s strict Irish nationalism and
the softly spoken stories of his mother’s German past, this little boy
tells the tale of a whole family’s homesickness for a country, and a language,
they can call their own.
[ top ]
Roddy & Ita by Roddy Doyle
This book is Roddy Doyle’s first non-fiction book. It tells - largely
in their own words - the story of his parents’ lives from their first
memories to the present. Born in 1923 and 1925 respectively, they
met at a New Year’s Eve dance in 1947 and married in 1951. They
remember every detail of their Dublin childhoods - the people (aunts,
cousins, shopkeepers, friends, teachers), the politics (both came from
Republican families), idyllic times in the Wexford countryside for Ita,
Rory’s apprenticeship as a printer. Ita’s mother died when she was
three; Rory was the oldest of nine children, five of them girls.
By the time they put down a deposit of two hundred pounds for a house
in Kilbarrack, Rory was working as a compositor at the Irish Independent.
By the time of the first of their four children was born, he had become
a teacher at the School of Printing in Dublin. Kilbarrack
and Dublin and Ireland began to change. Through their eyes the reader
se es the intensely Catholic society of their youth being transformed
into the vibrant, modern Ireland of today. Both Rory and Ita Doyle
are marvellous talkers, with excellent memories, so combined with Roddy’s
legendary skill in illuminating ordinary experience, it makes for a book
of tremendous warmth and humanity.
[ top ]
No Laughing Matter: The Life
and Times of Flann O’Brien by Anthony Cronin
This book was the first full-length biography of Flann O’Brien, originally
published in 1989 and long unavailable. Rich in background, anecdote
and social history, it is an extraordinary portrait of the Irish writer
and his times. It is perceptive, sympathetic and authoritative.
[ top ]
Sex in the City: The Prostitution
Racket in Ireland by Paul Reynolds
This book reveals how the organised prostitution rackets work in Ireland.
It does so through the lives and activities of the main people involved.
It maps the origins and development of their enterprises and charts the
growth of their multi-million Euro business. It exposes the men and women
at the top. It explains the systems they use to run their brothels
and prostitutes and the methods they use to avoid prosecution. The book
highlights the type of people the pimps employed and the individuals who
availed of their services and supported their criminal operations.
The men and women come from all walks of life and social classes.
Wealthy, middle- and upper-class professionals such as doctors, lawyers,
businessmen and priests all paid to have sex with prostitutes in the brothels,
in their offices, and in their own homes. The book also shines a
light on the darker side of the prostitution business - the disturbing
demand in Irish society for sex with young teenagers and children. It
shows that those seeking sex with children contact brothels and prostitutes.
A 14-year-old child prostitute was found in one of the brothels.
Hundreds of men paid to have sex with her. In 1997, 57 boys and
girls were found working as prostitutes. This book outlines in forensic
detail the financial affairs of Dublin’s biggest pimps and tells the full
story of the prostitut ion business in Ireland.
[ top ]
Meeting the Other Crowd: The
Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland by Eddie Lenihan
This book presents a definitive collection of stories of the mysterious
fairies of Ireland, creatures who by turn afflict, enlighten and instruct
those who cross their paths. It is a book about the hidden Ireland, a
land of mysterious taboos, dangers, otherworldly abductions, enchantments
and much more. In this selection, Lenihan opens the reader’s eyes
to this world with the passion and bluntness of a great storyteller and
in doing so, he provides one of the finest collections of Irish folklore
in modern times.
[ top ]
Fairy Stories of Oscar Wilde
illustrated by Isabelle Brent
Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales were, he said, ‘meant partly for children, and
partly for those who have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy.’
Beautiful, tender and moving, they are classics of the imagination.
The tales include ‘The Happy Prince’, ‘The Selfish Giant’, ‘The Remarkable
Rocket’, and ‘The Fisherman and his Soul’. In this collection, which
contains all of Wilde’s fairy tales, his rich prose is matched with the
equally sumptuous, intricate illustrations of the artist, Isabelle Brent.
These are stories to treasure.
[ top ]
Magical Tales of Ireland compiled
by Madeleine Nicklin
Here are ten brand new stories, full of magic, mystery and wonder, from
some of Ireland’s most acclaimed writers. An Irish backdrop and
an element of magic was the brief given to the writers, and the result
is as brilliantly diverse as the authors themselves. From Roddy
Doyle’s tender story of a little girl’s longing to find the spirit of
the mother she never knew, and Marita Conlon-McKenna’s mystical tale of
a child who loses and finds her voice, to Malachy Doyle’s ghostly story
of midnight football and Paul Muldoon’s wacky narrative poem of the back-to-front
Reverse Flannery - here is a collection to enchant, amuse and inspire.
Some of Ireland’s most gifted artists, including Niamh Sharkey, Pauline
Bewick, P.J. Lynch and Brian Gallagher, bring their own magic in the illustrations
throughout.
[ top ]
More Than a Game: Selected Sporting
Essays by Con Houlihan
Con Houlihan is one of Ireland’s finest sports writers. Over a lengthy
career, he has covered many of the greatest Irish and international sporting
events, from classic Gaelic football and hurling finals to the soccer
and rugby World Cups, the Olympics and memorable race meetings at home
and abroad. He has also written about sport’s biggest stars, from George
Best to Muhammad Ali. The book gathers together the finest examples
of his sports journalism from themid-1970s to the present day.
[ top ]
Sir Charles Domvile and his Shankill
Estate, County Dublin, 1857-1871 by Rob Goodbody
Sir Charles Domville inherited his family’s title and estates in 1857,
becoming one of the wealthiest commoners in Ireland. The property included
the lands of Shankill and Rathmichael, Co. Dublin, which were occupied
by 95 families. Within ten years, 85 of these had gone - many of them
evicted, others forced out by other means. Domville’s aim had been to
make these lands more profitable, but he achieved very little and was
ultimately declared bankrupt. This book examines events to establish
how Sir Charles managed to turn a promising beginning into a total failure,
both for himself and for the population of Shankill and Rathmichael in
South County Dublin.
[ top ]
Christopher Dillon Bellew and
his Galway estates, 1763-1826 by Joe Clarke
Christopher Dillon Bellew was an ‘improving’ Catholic proprietor who sought
to mould a model community on the estate around his County Galway mansion.
He shared the paternalism of those who hold a monopoly on power and also
think they have a monopoly on wisdom. Despite some success, Bellew’s
grandiose plans to create a Utopian rural idyll were thwarted as his tenants
gradually became less amenable to participation in what their landlord
deemed an ‘experiment’. A matrix of social and economic forces - including
Ireland’s spectacular population expansion, a post-war downturn in agriculture
after 1815, relaxation of the Penal Laws and an awakening to European
revolutionary ideals - formed the backdrop to the story told in this book.
The manner of local protest testified to growing militancy among the rural
population: the classic ‘food riot’ of July 1783 saw hungry tenants attack
the landlord’s stacks of corn; agrarian discontent increased to the point
of fostering ruthless violence of Connacht Ri bbonism in the 1820s.
This book portrays the Mount Bellewestate as a microcosm of a deferential
world that crumble, despite the landlord’s attempts to preserve the old
order.
[ top ]
Headford, County Galway, 1775-1901
by Gerardine Candon
Headford, a small market town, was in the possession of the St George
family between 1775 and 1892. This book examines how the daily lives of
the residents of the town were transformed during that period, mirroring
and sometimes deviating from the trends on the national stage. It explores
the consequences of devastating famine and disease, and how changes in
demography, in the political process and in education affected the daily
lives of ordinary people. It also investigates the social, political
and economic impact of the St. Georges on the town.
[ top ]
A Galway Landlord during the
Great Famine: Ulick John de Burgh, First Marquisof Clanricarde by John
Joseph Conwell
Ulick John de Burgh (1802-1874), 1st Marquis and 14th Earl of Clanricarde,
was a major Irish landed magnate with a seat at Portumna in east Galway.
He was one of three Irish landowners to serve in Lord John Russell’s cabinet
(1846-52). This coincided with the period of the Great Famine in
Ireland. Focusing particularly on Clanricarde, this book examines
how major Irish landlords responded to that great humanitarian disaster.
It shows that they had little difficulty in putting their personal property
interests before those of their tenants. They were not heartless,
but they failed to accept that the cure for Ireland’s ills would require
government intervention at the expense of their property. This book attempts
to reconcile Clanricarde’s manifest humanitarian instincts with his inability
to transcend his own position of privilege.
[ top ]
Harry Boland’s Irish Revolution
by David Fitzpatrick
Along with his close comrades Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera, Harry
Boland was probably the most influential Irish revolutionary between 1917
and 1922. His sway extended to almost every aspect of republican activity.
Already prominent as a hurler before 1916, he was convicted and imprisoned
after an energetic Easter Week. He subsequently became Honorary Secretary
of Sinn Fein, T.D. for South Roscommon in the First Dail, President of
the Irish Republican Brotherhood’s Supreme Council, and a republican envoy
in the United States between May 1919 and December 1921. He broke with
Collins over the Treaty, but became chief intermediary between the factions.
Early in the Civil War, however, he was killed by National army officers
in the Grand Hotel, Skerries. Boland’s influence was the product of charm,
gregariousness, wit and ruthlessness. After his rebel father’s early death,
Boland’s mother raised him in a spirit of intransigent hostility to Britain.
Yet he was also stylish, cosmopolitan, and humane. His celebrated contest
with Collins for the love of Kitty Kiernan is perhaps the most intriguing
of all Irish political romances. Attractive yet elusive, his personality
helped shape the Irish revolution. This biography draws upon documents
in Irish, British and American archives, including his American diaries
and thousands of letters to, from, and about Boland. Extensive use
has been made of family papers and de Valera’s vast archive on the Irish
campaign in America. These and other recently released documents
illuminate the inner workings of Irish republicanism and the critical
importance of brotherhood in the revolution. As an old-fashioned
republican and advocate of ‘physical-force’, Boland is still venerated
as a martyr by revolutionary republicans. Yet, in his conduct, he practiced
the ambiguities associated with Sinn Fein in today’s Northern Ireland.
Doctrine was subordinated to the twin quests for republican unity and
political supremacy, entailing reiterated compromise, systematic duplicity
and mastery of propagandist techniques. If his outlook seems archaic,
his practice was astonishingly modern.
[ top ]
Inside the Zoo with U2 by Lola
Cashman
For more than twenty years, U2 have been arguably the most influential
rock band in the world. From the early days of the Boy album, through
the dizzying heights of international fame in the eighties and nineties,
to their current status as godfathers of the rock scene, few bands have
had such an impact and created such a loyal following as U2. The
author of this book is one of the few outside people ever to have been
allowed into the inner sanctum of theU2 entourage. Hired by Bono to completely
overhaul the band’s image, she gained a fascinating insight into the crazy
world of this giant group. The tales she has to tell will intrigue
all of the band’s millions of fans - tales of Bono’s desperate insecurity
about his height, tales of babysitting major Hollywood music stars, and
of course tales of the music and madness of life on the road with U2.
[ top ]
U2: The Best of Propaganda -
20 Years of the Official U2 Magazine
From their earliest incarnation as teenage Dublin punks through to their
status today as the biggest rock band in the world, U2 have always had
a special relationship with their fans, and Propaganda has been a unique
element of that kinship. Beginning as a scruffy, stapled fanzine-cum-newsheet
in 1981, U2’s official fan club magazine developed over the course of
two decades into a sophisticated information service that soon proved
indispensable to their most diehard fans. Always first with the
band info, and regularly featuring exclusive interviews with the band
members, Propaganda became a must-have for committed fans as U2 developed
from rudimentary rockers, via the epic sweep of The Joshua Tree, to become
the 21st Century’s most fascinating band. This book collects the
most candid interviews and beautiful photography in the magazine’s history
into one spectacular volume, a must-have souvenir for all devotees of
Dublin’s iconic sons.
[ top ]
Traditional Crafts of Ireland
by David Shaw-Smith
The rhythmic turn of the spinning wheel, the jingle of harnessed horses,
the ring of the blacksmith’s hammer, the scything of summer hay, butter
churning in the spotless farm kitchen … all once familiar sights
and sounds in and around Irish homesteads. In this book, time appears
to stand still as the reader meets the skilled practitioners of more than
forty traditional Irish crafts, from woodworkers, thatchers, goldsmiths
and potters to glassblowers of the world famous Waterford crystal, crios
weavers from the Aran Islands, and the makers of items as varied as harps
and quilts, sugan ropes and currachs, dry-stone walls and Irish lace.
The author has travelled the length and breadth of the Ireland and its
islands to assemble this unique record, documenting the crafts in their
natural surroundings before they disappear completely. His superb
colour photographs are accompanied by his wife Sally’s evocative drawings
and by texts from some of Ireland’s finest hi storians and folklorists.
A magnificent testament to the centuries-old heritage of a vibrant land,
this book is a chronicle of time past, but also a celebration of an enduring
culture and a source of inspiration for generations to come.
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Practical Treatise on Trees by
Samuel Hayes, with a foreword by Thomas Pakenham
In 1791 Samuel Hayes - Irish Member of Parliament, barrister, amateur
architect and draughtsman and passionate planter of trees - wrote the
first book on trees in Ireland. He was the man who designed and planted
Avondale, the estate made famous as the home of Charles Stewart Parnell.
Planting trees at Avondales was Hayes’s passion, and his book the culmination
of his work. Commissioned by members of the Dublin Society to write a
simple guidebook, he said he wanted to do more than merely instruct people
how to plant and manage trees. He wanted to inspire his countrymen
to ‘love’ trees. His death in 1795, only a year after the book was
published, came early in his task. Since its original publication
in1794, Hayes’s book has become a rare and valuable collectors’ item.
This reprint is a celebration of the trees of the Irish countryside and
its great demesnes. With a foreword by Thomas Pakenham and will
elegant illustrations by Hayes himself, engra ved by William Esdall.
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Living in Dublin by Robert O’Bryne
with photographs by Alex Ramsy
Over the past 20 years, Dublin has become both a colourful, international
tourist destination and a place for stylish, sophisticated lifestyles.
All the rich flavours and excitement of living in contemporary Dublin
are beautifully recorded here in Alex Ramsay’s atmospheric photographs
and Robert O’Bryne’s evocative commentary. Despite its relatively small
size, Dublin has nurtured an impressive number of celebrated writers:
Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, to name only a few, who have
all been associated with the city’s vast array of bars and theatres.
Once victims of neglect, the elegant streets, squares and monuments of
Georgian Dublin have been rescued and restored to their former grace and
grandeur, and the old city now provides the infrastructure for the new
Dublin, represented here by the rejuvenated neighborhood of Temple Bar,
the city’s own ‘Left Bank’. Its 18th-century streets are home to
a heady mixture of art galleries, bars, restaurants , clubs and shops,
which make th e area a favourite venue on summer evenings for public entertainment.
The stylish residences of the new Dublin - from opulent, traditional Georgian
to spare Modernist, and the very latest in urban loft conversions - provide
photographer and author alike with the opportunity to evoke the satisfaction
of living in this most welcoming of cities. The book is completed
by listings of unmissable sights and places to stay and eat, making this
the only major lifestyle guide to one of Europe’s most vibrant cities.
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No Ordinary Women: Irish Female
Activists in the Revolutionary Years 1900-1923 by Sinead McCoole
This book tells the story of the Irish revolutionary period 1900-1923,
from the perspective of female activists. The focus of the book is on
the period when vast numbers of Irish women were politicised and sent
to jail for their beliefs, with a special emphasis on their imprisonment
in the aftermath of the 1916 Rising, and during the War of Independence
and the Civil War. The seventy-three biographies included provided
information on what the lives of these courageous women were like before
and after they took part in the pivotal historical events that helped
shape the Ireland of today. The author, an historian and curator, uncovered
in her research that the women who were politically active in this period
were not confined to a particular social grouping, but represented a cross-section
of Irish life. They were shop assistants, doctors, housewives, laundry
workers, artists, teachers and even mere schoolchildren. They were
married women, mothers, single and widowed women. A number were titled
women. Some had not even been born in Ireland, and not all were Catholic:
there were Protestants, Quakers, Jews and atheists. The vast majority
became involved because of familial links to the nationalist movement,
and their commitment to the cause and sacrifices they made were in no
way inferior to the male members of their households. They were
willing to give their lives for their ideal, and while imprisoned, endured
the full rigours of hunger strike and separation from family and friends
for their beliefs. This book reasserts their rightful place in Irish
history.
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In Search of the Craic: One Man’s
Pub Crawl Through Irish Music by Colin Irwin
This book finds its author undertaking a long journey into Ireland’s musical
soul and encountering extraordinary people along the way. He dances
at the Fleadh in Limerick, chats with Bono of U2, Sinead O’Connor and
Christy Moore, visits the spa town where farmers come searching for wives,
and drinks hot toddies with the legendary Keane sisters of Galway.
This musical pub crawl across Ireland is vibrant, heart-warming and frequently
hilarious.
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Mad Dog: The Rise and Fall of
Johnny Adair and ‘C Company’ by David Lister and Hugh Jordan
A mindless sectarian psychopath or a loyalist folk hero who took the war
to the IRA? The name Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Adair is synonymous with a
killing spree by loyalist terrorists that took Northern Ireland to the
brink of civil war. This book describes in details Adair’s criminal
empire and an egomaniac’s bloody war against Catholics and anybody else
who got in his way. Both Adair’s friends and enemies talk for the
first time about the murders he ordered, his sordid personal life, and
his attempts - ultimately disastrous - to become Northern Ireland’s supreme
loyalist figurehead. The authors expose the mass murderers who did
Adair’s bidding and provide insights into some of the biggest secrets
of the Troubles, including the controversial murder of Patrick Finucane,
the Catholic solicitor.
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Paul Durcan’s Diary
Walking alone in the streets of the world, Paul Durcan takes the reader
on an exhilarating journey. From Enniscorthy to New York, from Irishtown
to Iraq, the ‘news of the day that’s in it’ is distilled through the poet’s
eye, at times deeply personal, at times reflective, at times abundant
and sensual. Part autobiography, part opinion and reflection, defense
and accusation, this book is speaks to the nation of Irish everywhere
with an assured voice.
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