Read Ireland Book News - Issue 2
<-- [Back To Main Menu] Before the Dawn: An Autobiography by Gerry Adams (hardback; 17.99 Irish pounds/28.50 US Dollars approximately) [Add To Basket]
Gerry Adams is widely regarded as the most controversial leader in modern Irish history, yet few know what sort of man he is. For years his voice was banned from radio and television, while commentators and politicians condemned him and all he stood for. Born in West Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1948 into a family with close ties to both the trade union and republican movements, Gerry Adams is the eldest of ten children. He writes with affection of his mother, "an articulate and gentle woman", of his father, a republican activist who had been jailed at the age of 16, and of his grandmother, who nurtured in him a love of reading.
His childhood, despite its material poverty, he describes in glowing and humorous terms, recollecting golden hours spent playing on the slopes of the mountain behind his home and celebrating the intimate sense of community in the tightly packed streets of working-class West Belfast.
But even before leaving school to work as a barman he had become aware of the inequities of life in the north of Ireland. Soon he was engaged in direct action on issues of housing, unemployment and civil rights.
In his autobiography, Gerry Adams brings a unique perspective to the years of conflict, insurrection and bitter struggle which ensued when, in his view, peaceful political agitation was met with hysterical reaction and the sectarian tinder-box of Britain's last colony erupted. From the pograms of 1969 to the hunger strikes of 1981; from the streets of West Belfast to the cages of Long Kesh, this powerful memoir is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand modern Ireland.
2. In Ruins: The Once Great Houses of Ireland text by Duncan McLaren and photographs by Simon Marsden (hardback; 18.99 Irish pounds/30 US Dollars approx) [Add To Basket]
Here, spanning eight centuries, are the haunting ruins of Ireland. Its once great houses and castles, many designed for the Anglo-Irish aristocracy by the most accomplished architects of their day, bear witness to a troubled history of civil war, famine, land acts and private bankruptcy. Splendid in their prime, the ruins have absorbed the romantic beauty of mystery surrounding landscape - qualities captured in these 70 atmospheric photographs. The intriguing text weaves history and hearsay into one, vividly recalling the lives and fates of the people who lived there. These leftovers of another age enhance the Irish sense of separateness, almost of desolation. Their unique charm makes them unique.
Originally published in 1980 and later acclaimed as a collector's item, this expanded edition features an additional thirty photographs, including those for 11 new locations. The text has been completely revised to incorporate newly uncovered information. This is a truly stunning book!
3. A Death-Dealing Famine: The Great Hunger in Ireland by Christine Kinealy (paperback; 12.99 Irish pounds/20 US Dollars approx) [Add To Basket]
The Irish Famine of 1945-52, although a pivotal event in the development of modern Ireland, was for decades marginalised or ignored by Irish historians. In examining the reasons for this silence, Famine expert Christine Kineally demonstrates how many current attitudes and arguments about the Famine were evident during the event itself. The influences that shaped the responses to the Famine represent a core theme of this book.
Dr. Kinealy focuses on the key factors which nurtured both policy formulations and the unfolding of events in mid-nineteenth century Ireland. These include political ideologies, such as the influential doctrine of political economy; providentialist ideas which ordained that the potato blight was a 'judgemtn of God'; and an opportunistis interpretation of the crisis that viewed the Famine and the consequent social dislocation as an opportunity to reconstruct Irish society. Kinealy also examines the roles of the Irish landlords and merchants, political factors in Westminister and the pivotal role played by civil servants within the British government.
4. The Bend for Home by Dermot Healy (hardback; 14.99 Irish pounds/24 US Dollars approx) [Add To Basket]
Dermot Healy believed for years that the doctor who attended his birth, despairing of a swift delivery, had climbed into the bed beside his mother for a drunken nap. The discovery that this was not his mother nor his birth introduced the young Healy to the illusory nature of memory. From Finea, a sleepy Westmeath village where his father was a policeman, the family moves to the bustling market town of Cavan, where his mother and her sister, the redoubtable Auntie Maisie, ran a thriving cafe and bakery. Over the fireplace in the family dining room hung a huge mirror, creating double images in profusion and leaving visitors, who were always addressed through the glass, uncertain as to who was real - the people in the room or the images in the mirror. From such beginnings, Healy takes off into the wider and wilder worlds of Dublin and London.
Years later, when he is back home, caring with his sisters for the failing mother, out of the blue she hands him a diary he kept for the year following his father's death at Christmas 1962. Healy rediscovers the hair-raising adventures of a bereaved fifteen-year-old tear-away... Yet in the youthful diarist he also finds the beginnings of the writer he was to become. In the final section, that writer is tested to the full as Healy records with desperate humour and tenderness his mother's last days; how, as her memory fades and conscious action become automatic habit, she is taken from him bit by bit. A truly marvelous book!
5. Dublin: The Fair City by Peter Somerville-Large (hardback; Original Price: 25 Irish pounds - Special Read Ireland Price: 9.99 Irish pounds/16 US Dollars approx) [Add To Basket]
Written by a Dubliner, this book is delightful history of the fair city and the notable people associated with it. The author draws liberally on the writings of a throng of scholars, travellers, historians and distinguished literary men and women who have been enthralled by Dublin. This handsome book is illustrated with fine photographs specially taken in colour and black and white by Mark Fiennes, as well as many historical images. A real bargain!
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