Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 371 - 24 March 2007
Dublin’s Nazi No. 1: The Life of Adolf Mahr by Gerry Mullins
Trade Paperback; 17 Euro / 23 USD / 12 UK; 253 pages
In the 1930s, Dr Adolf Mahr was head of the National Museum of Ireland, where he earned the title .the father of Irish archaeology.. He was also the head of the Nazi Party in Ireland, and was dubbed .Dublin Nazi No. 1.. Under pressure from Irish and British military intelligence, he left for Germany shortly before the outbreak of war in 1939, never to return. To this day, he is considered in some circles to have been a spy who used his position at the museum to help prepare Germany.s invasion plan of Ireland. During the war, he became director of Irland-Redaktion, the German propaganda radio service that broadcast into neutral Ireland. He was later arrested and tortured by the British, and upon his release tried to return to Ireland, but to no avail. He remains one of the most controversial figures in twentieth-century Irish history. The book also tells the story of Hilde Mahr, Adolf.s eldest daughter, who had been a member of Hitler Youth in Ireland before being trapped in Germany when the war began. She was drafted into the National Labour Force, was stationed on the roofs of Berlin buildings during air-raids, and several times came close to death.
Left to the Wolves: Irish Victims of Stalinist Terror by Barry McLoughlin
Trade Paperback; 30 Euro / 39 USD / 24 UK; 294 pages [Add To Basket]
Between the end of the Russian Civil War in 1921 and Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet secret police sentenced over 4 million persons on political grounds. Over 800,000 were shot and millions died in the slave camps of the Gulag system. At the height of the mass-repression - the Great Terror of 1937/38 - foreigners were in great jeopardy. Knowing that a major war was coming, Iosif Stalin and his cohorts decided to rid Soviet society of all perceived or potential 'enemies'. Among the putative 'Fifth Columnists' were non-Russian ethnic minorities, political refugees from fascism and foreign-born Communists. At least three of these countless victims were of Irish nationality. This book describes their social background, how and why they entered the semi-clandestine world of Communism and the reasons for their residence in the USSR. Patrick Breslin was a graduate of the International Lenin School who turned to journalism and translating. Brian Goold-Verschoyle's visits to Moscow were periodic until his masters in the Soviet espionage service sent him to the Spanish cockpit in 1937. Finally, Sean McAteer was given political refugee status in the new Russia in 1923 after his flight from Scotland Yard. He used his language skills to proselytize sailors for the world revolution or to teach students the rudiments of English in exotic Odessa. Each man in turn knew by time of arrest that the secret police NKVD rarely released or acquitted anybody; and the fabricated charges they were faced with increased their sense of isolation and hopelessness. This realisation was all the more bitter considering the faith they had placed in the Soviet experiment.
In Search of Ireland’s Heroes: The Story of the Irish from the English Invasion to the Present Day by Carmel McCaffrey
Hardback; 25 Euro / 30 USD / 17 UK; 290 pages
In this engaging sequel to her previous book, In Search of Ancient Ireland, Carmel McCaffrey tells the story of the struggle between English and Irish aspirations in the centuries since the first English incursions into Ireland in the twelfth century. This is a narrative history filled with powerful personalities and families who fought in battle and through constitutional means to free Ireland from English control. With an extensive use of original sources--letters, personal accounts, and parliamentary documents--Ms. McCaffrey brings these individuals to life and tells their story. We meet the intrepid O'Neills, the colorful O'Donnells, the wily Fitzgeralds, and many others whose passion for freedom and for Ireland could not be conquered. The Irish, as the book recounts, struggled over many generations to hold on to ancient lands only to lose their fight in the Elizabethan wars. In the early 1600s the ancient Irish Brehon laws were extinguished, and it seemed as if the Gaelic past had been washed from memory. Yet the story of Irish determination did not end there. Other generations took up the effort to establish an Irish parliament free of English control that would answer the needs of all citizens. With extensive use of original source material from Parliamentary records, personal accounts and letters McCaffrey brings to this stirring history the same adroitness that prompted Terry Golway of the New York Observer to call her first book marvelous...fine storytelling and analysis. With 25 black-and-white photographs and a map.
Masters of Irish Music by Liam Gaul
Trade Paperback; 18 Euro / 25 USD / 13 UK; 130 pages, with black-and-white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
A collection of some thirty profiles, "Masters of Irish Music", which appeared periodically in "Ireland's Own" some time ago, aims to gives readers an overview of some of the most interesting and important figures in Irish music. It can be dipped into, used as a work of reference - for writing or preparing programme notes for a concert, for example - or simply read from cover to cover. All of the people profiled have passed on, leaving new generations to take up the challenge of continuing the work started by these masters of Irish music, and the men and women featured in this book can be an inspiration to them.
Weaving Tapestry in Rural Ireland by Meghan Nuttal Sayres with photographs by Laurence Boland
Hardback; 40 Euro / 54 USD / 26 UK; 200 pages, with full colour and black-and-white photos throughout
"Weaving Tapestry in Rural Ireland", this account of the Donegal weaving co-operative features accounts of the various processes; as well as interviews with weavers, spinners and dyers; and has 103 colour photographs of tapestries. This book brings into focus key aspects of our heritage and shows how traditional skills were adopted to produce modern tapestries of great beauty and originality. "Weaving Tapestry in Rural Ireland" contributes to the preservation of regional culture in the Gaeltacht, the Irish-speaking sections of western Ireland. The weavers believe their work is of importance because "large chunks of our cultural heritage have been lost with the passing of just one generation." Traditional methods of wool production are presented in this book along with folklore, myth and local archaeology which influences the weavers' practices, tapestry design, self-perceptions and identities as artists and mentors within their communities. Also included is a documentation of the natural materials-plants and sea life-that their ancestors used in dye recipes for the yarns in their sweaters and tweeds.
An Essay on Irish Bulls by Maria Edgeworth
Paperback; 20 Euro / 27 USD / 14 UK; 152 pages
First published in 1802, "An Essay on Irish Bulls" was intended to show the English public the talent and wit of the Irish lower classes. Originally devised by Maria's father, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Irish Bulls is an informal philosophic dialogue on the nature of Bulls (logical absurdities) and jokes and jests in general. Published at the time of the Union, the overarching theme is the confusions of identity and the relationship of Irish people to the English. This highly entertaining work has not been published as a single book since the nineteenth century. The editorial material and text for this edition are reproduced from the "Pickering & Chatto Novels" and "Selected Works of Maria Edgeworth", vol. 1. New introduction for this edition is by Jane Desmarais.
The Open Secret of Ireland by Thomas Kettle
Paperback; 20 Euro / 27 USD / 14 UK; 122 pages [Add To Basket]
The Open Secret of Ireland", published in 1912, consists of articles primarily focused on Home Rule, offering both historical and contemporary analyses. The collection includes three articles focused on Unionism, particularly on Ulster Unionism, and Kettle's description of 'The Hallucination of Ulster' provides a fascinating insight into nationalist ideas about the fragility of the unionist bloc and the unreasonableness of their cause. This revealing and intriguing collection offers many insights into the motivations of the old Home Rule generation, convinced that their day had come and utterly unaware of the radical course Irish politics were to take in the next ten years. This edition includes an original introduction by John Redmond. It contains a new introduction by Senia Paseta.
The Philosophy of Irish Ireland by D.P. Moran
Paperback; 20 Euro / 27 USD / 14 UK; 126 pages [Add To Basket]
First published between 1898 and 1900 as a series of articles in the "New Ireland Review", "The Philosophy of Irish Ireland" was the most forceful manifesto produced by that section of the Gaelic Revival movement which saw Irish identity as inextricably Catholic and Gaelic. The book addresses the growing Catholic professional class educated in secondary schools run by religious orders, and attempts to instil a collective consciousness in this nascent elite. It shows that the Gaelic Revival would not inevitably lead to separatism; it could also be deployed in the service of an aggressively reinvented less deferential 'Catholic Whig' politics. It includes a new introduction by Patrick Maume.
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