Read Ireland Book News - Issue 47
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Ernie O'Malley: IRA Intellectual by Richard English (Hardback; 28.50 IRP/ 42.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
Ernie O'Malley (1897-1957) was one of the most talented and colourful of modern Irish republicans. An important IRA leader in the 1916-1923 Irish Revolution, this bookish gunman subsequently became a distinguished intellectual, and the author of two classic autobiographical accounts of the revolutionary period: "On Another Man's Wound" and "The Singing Flame", both of which are still in print.
His post-revolutionary life was as turbulent as his IRA years. Travelling extensively in Europe and America, he mixed with a wide range of artistic and literary figures, and devoted himself to a variety of writing projects. In his IRA career he had mixed with revolutionaries such as Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera; in his post-IRA years his friends included Samuel Beckett, Louis MacNeice, John Wayne and John Ford.
Based on previously unseen archival sources, this exciting new biography illuminated many persistent themes of Irish history, ranging from the origins and culture of militant republicanism and the complexities of Anglo-Irish relations to the development of intellectual and artistic life in 20th century Ireland. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the background to modern Irish politics, and the past and present role of the Irish Republican Army.
Talk of the Town by Ardal O'Hanlon (Paperback; 11.40 IRP / 17.10 USD) [Add To Basket]
This gripping first novel by one of Ireland's award-winning stand-up comedians is a wonderfully observed tale of a 19 year-old's frustrations and dreams. Laced with hilarious smalltown insights, it is a powerful portrait of how one man's insecurities and fear build to a shocking climax.
The tale is about Patrick Scully, who is special. At least he was a child - tall for his age, talented at school and on the football field. In awe of his father, all he ever wanted was to follow him into the police force. But now his father is dead, school's over and Scully is stuck in a dead-end job in Dublin while his friens study useless degree courses. Unable to articulate his bitterness and mounting rage, the only way to turn is in. To make matters worse, everyone thinks his childhood buddy Balls O'Reilly is great crack. In fact, even Scully's girlfriend Francesca seems to be paying more attention to Balls than Scully. In a desperate attempt to numb the isolation, Scully returns to his hometown to the weekend and creates a whirlwind of drinking and fighting until he nears oblicion. However, he only gets as far as the hospital where he almost drowns in a flood of memories.
Dublin Slums, 1800-1925: A Study in Urban Geography by Jacinta Prunty (Paperback; 22.50 IRP / 33.75 USD) [Add To Basket]
In this thoroughly original book, based on source materials ranging from public inquiries and property valuations to the records created by women charity workers, such as Mary Aylward, the slum geography of Dublin city is meticulously recreated. The overlapping areas of contagious disease, slum housing and the support of the very poorest, the beggars and constermongers who daily thronged the city streets, form the three main areas of analysis. These issues are explored on scales ranging from citywide to the local street or court, while the final case study examines the dynamic nature of slum creation and efforts at relief and reform in the particular context of the north city parishes of St Mary's and St Michael's.
Lighthouses of Ireland by Kevin McCarthy with illustrations by William Trotter (Hardbakc; 21.95 IRP / 33.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
For Ireland, lighthouses are important not only to mariners, but to the livelihood of the entire island. Eighty navigational aids under the authority of the Commissioner of Irish Lights dot the 2000 miles of Irish coastline. Each is addressed in this book, and thirty of the most interesting ones are featured with detailed histories and full-colour paintings. From the sinking of the Lusitania to the burial of a shipwrecked elephant, the author outlines the significance of Irish lights to the maritime history of Ireland and the world while painting a vivid picture of the life led by the keepers and inhabitants of the rocks, islands, and shores of Ireland.
Dictionary of Irish Biograhy 3rd edition edited by Henry Boylan (Hardback;19.99 IRP / 30.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
This book is the only one-volume A-Z which summarises the lives and achievements of Ireland's most distinguished people from A.D. 400 to the present day. This new edition sees a substantial expansion of the number of entries. In addition, the dictionary is illustrated for the first time. The list of subjects is as broad as irish life itself and includes St. Columba, Jonathan Swift, Lady Jane Wilde (and her son Oscar), Sir Edward Carson, Arthur Guinness and Kate O'Brien. There are offbeat entries: Francis Beaufort, the hydrographer after whom the Beaufort scale for measuring wind velocity is named; Patrick Bronte, clergyman father of the novelists; and marie-Louise O'Morphi, mistress of Louis XV of France and the subject of one of Boucher's most erotic nudes. Among the new entrants - mainly those who have died since the appearance of the previous edition in 1988 - are Samuel Beckett, Ray McAnally and Eileen O'Casey.
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