Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 113
Irish History
The Irish Counter-Revolution 1921 - 1936 by John Regan (Hardback; 19.99 IEP / 26.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
This book offers a comprehensive re-evaluation of the treaty negotiations, examining the strategies of Collins and de Valera. It argues that there existed elements of anti-democratic culture on both side of the treaty divide, not least Collins himself. It emphasises the central role of Kevin O'Higgins in using the spoils system of the new state to undermine his opponents within the regime. Based on research in archives in Ireland, Britain, France and the USA, this is a radical reappraisal of the Irish Free State.
The Long Gestation: Irish Nationalist Life 1891 - 1918 by Patrick Maume (Hardback; 19.99 IEP / 26.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
In this book the author examines a period of history commonly thought of as one in which politics were moribund and which was dominated by the cultural and literary revival. He challenges this view, arguing for an organic and integrated understanding of the period. He discusses the nationalist tradition inherited from the 18th century Patriots and Young Ireland that was transmitted to a newly literate mass audience. He traces its gaps and incoherences and shows how it re-invented itself in order to produce the Irish-Ireland movement of the 1890s. He pays particular attention to the activities of the various separatist societies grouped under the title Sinn Fein. In the process he traces the rise of Sinn Fein which led to its spectacular victory over the Redmonites in the 1918 election.
The Resurrection of Ireland: The Sinn Fein Party 1916-1923 by Michael Laffan (Hardback; 36.85 IEP / 52.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
Between 1916 and 1923, Ireland experienced a political as well as military revolution. This book examines how, after the Easter Rising of 1916, radical revolutionaries formed a precarious coalition with (relatively) moderate politicians, and analyses the political organisation of Irish republicanism during a crucial period. The new Sinn Fein party routed its enemies, co-operated uneasily with the underground Irish government which it had helped create, and achieved most of its objectives before disintegrating in 1923. Its rapid collapse should not distract from its achievements - in particular its role in 'democratising' the Irish revolution. Its successors have dominated the political life of independent Ireland. The book studies in some detail the party's membership and ideology, and also its often tense relationship with the Irish Republican Army. A final chapter examines the fluctuating careers of the later Sinn Fein parties throughout the rest of the 20th century.
The Politics of Language in Ireland, 1366-1922: A Sourcebook by Tony Crowley (Paperback; 25.00 IEP / 33.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
Collected in this book for the first time are texts on the politics of language from the date of the first legislation against Irish, the Statute of Kilkelly of 1366, to the constitution of the Irish Free State in 1922. The author's introduction connects these texts to current debates, taking the Belfast Agreement as an example, and illustrates how the language debates continue to have historical resonance today. Divided into six historical sections with detailed introductions, this unique sourcebook includes familiar texts such as Spenser's 'View of the Present State of Ireland' and essays and letters by Yeats and Synge, alongside less familiar writings, from the introductions to the first Irish-English and English-Irish dictionaries to the Preface to the New Testament in Irish (1602).
The Irish Constabularies 1822-1922: A Century of Policing in Ireland by Donal O'Sullivan (Hardback; 35.00 IEP / 50.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
This first account of the Irish constabularies is a major contribution to Irish historical studies. Throughout the century in question, policing stood at the perilous intersection of politics, religion and the relationship between Britain and Ireland. The author has over three decades researched this history, much of the essential material of which had been obscured by continuing political sensitivities. From the Constabulary Act of 1822 and the organisation of the County Constabulary, the story moves through difficult and turbulent decades of the Famine, 1848, the Belfast Riots and the Fenian Rising, encompassing the birth of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Land War. In the later years of the 19th century, the emphasis is on more routine police work, with the period of the growth of Irish nationalism in the early 20th century being a peaceful time for the RIC. But as Sinn Fein and the Volunteers grew in strength, attitudes to the RIC changed and it came under sustained attack during the force's final difficult years leading to disbandment.
A History of Settlement in Ireland edited by Terry Barry (Hardback; 25.00 IEP / 33.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
For decades, disciplinary and methodological boundaries meant that the study of Irish settlement history did not develop as fully as it might otherwise have done. This stimulating and thought-provoking volume is an overview of the settlement history of Ireland from prehistory to the 20th century, examined in unprecedented scholarly detail. The ten chapters provide wide-ranging and up-to-date interpretation by contributors who are all experts in the periods about which they write. They analyse issues such as settlement change and distribution within the context of environment, demography and culture, and set the agenda for future research in this expanding area. This book marks a major contribution to the understanding of the human impact on the Irish landscape.
The Easter Rising by Michael Foy and Brian Barton (Hardback; 25.00 IEP / 33.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
More comprehensive and adhering more closely to the events than any account previously written, this important new treatment of the 1916 Easter Rising draws on an impressive range of hitherto unused primary sources - some closed to the public until recently, while others, long available, have been neglected by historians. It contains recently released transcripts of the court martial trials of the executed rebel leaders, including the cases for the prosecution and defence, plus the testimonies of the witnesses. It graphically describes the execution process and - drawing on Sir John Maxwell's private papers - the justification given for imposing the death sentence in each case. Letters, diaries and recollections of participants and eyewitnesses, complement the wealth of previously unpublished material drawn from the major archive centres in Ireland and Britain. This book challenges many widely-held assumptions about the Easter Rising. It illuminates aspects of that fateful week, and provides a synthesis of this seminal event in 20th century Irish history.
Aftermath: Post-Rebellion Insurgency in Wicklow 1799-1803 by Ruan O'Donnell (Paperback; 16.95 IEP / 22.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
County Wicklow, scene of some of the heaviest and intense fighting of the Rebellion in 1798, remained the most consistently disturbed part of Ireland until 1803. Militant factions of battle-hardened United Irishmen held out in the fastnesses of the Wicklow mountains and confounded every strategy devised to defeat them over five years. This book investigates the underlying causes of this phenomenon and provides a detailed account of the experiences of all the major groupings, including the little known elements led by James Hughes and Michael Dalton. Myths regarding the dynamic Michael Dwyer of Imaal are dispelled by the first detailed examination and critical evaluation of his insurgent career. All Wiclow rebel activity, however, is assessed in terms of its nature, compatibility with the cause of the United Irishmen and influence on post-Rebellion Ireland. The appendices include a list of 1,100 identified Wicklow rebels and reprints many documents of historical importance.
History of the Catholic Diocese of Dublin edited by James Kelly and Daire Keogh (Hardback; 30.00 IEP / 38.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
The specially commissioned essays in this volume chart the development of the diocese of Dublin from its foundations to modern times. The authors study the unique experience of the Reformation in Dublin, the Catholic response, and the effects on the diocese of the Penal Laws. Several chapters concentrate on the careers of Dublin's archbishops, including John Troy, Daniel Murray, William Walsh, Paul Cardinal Cullen and John Charles McQuaid, and their effect on the life and politics of Church and State as seen in the experience of the diocese. Further chapters analyse 19th century church architecture, the growth of the religious orders in the diocese, and the practise of religion among the Dublin laity in the period following the formation of the Irish Free State.
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