Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 192
From Newman to New Women: UCD Women Remember edited by Anne Macdona
Paperback; 10.00 IEP / 12.00 USD / 7.50 UK / 12.70 EURO; New Island, 249 pages [Add To Basket]
The close of the twentieth century saw the end of an era that had ushered in a new social category: Irish women graduates. To mark its passing, and to celebrate the centenary of its own founding, the UCD Women Graduates' Association assembled in this book a wide variety of female graduate experiences. Spanning the century, the book is a fascinating bank of stories, from those who fought to secure equal rights in university education to those who have enjoyed its advantages. Here are evocative, amusing and surprising accounts: Kate O'Brien on literary life around 1910s' Earlsfort Terrace; Maeve Binchy on tentative introductions forging lasting friendships in the 1950s; Rosaleen Linehan on the first awakenings of talents in Dramsoc; Una Claffey on the 1960s 'gentle revolution'; and Emma Donoghue on the University's emerging gay culture in the 1980s.
The Geology of Ireland edited by Charles Hepworth Holland
Paperback; 55.00 IEP / 62.50 USD / 47.50 UK / 70.00 EURO; Dundein; 532 pages, with photos and maps throughout [Add To Basket]
This book provides an authoritative statement of the geology of the island of Ireland as a physical whole. Ireland has a particular significance in modern dynamic geology, involving as it does the opening and closing of the so-called Iapetus Ocean long before the assembling of the present arrangement of lands about the Atlantic. The treatment here of Ireland's splendidly varied geology over the vast stretch of time from Precambrian to present is historical, but there are chapters on geophysical evidence and on the fascinating history of Irish geology itself. The book is intended for anyone wishing to know more of the meaning behind the beautiful scenery of this island, which is posed on the edge of Europe and spectacular in its seascapes and mountains, in its stark boglands and the gentle beauty of its glens.
The Irish Women's Movement: From Revolution to Devolution by Linda Connolly
Hardback; 65.00 IEP / 75.00 USD / 55.00 UK / 82.50 EURO; Macmillan; 308 pages [Add To Basket]
This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the emergence, consolidation and development of the Irish women's movement, as a social movement, in the course of the twentieth century. It seeks to address several lacunae in Irish studies by illuminating the processes through which the movement and, in particular, networks of constituent organizations, came to fruition as agencies of social change. Feminism encompasses a major intellectual and political tradition in Ireland. Yet a meticulous survey and synthesis of key historical and contemporary perspectives, including modernisation theory, historiography and post-colonialism, reveals how feminism is both misrepresented and misunderstood in mainstream Irish studies. While the social and political dynamics of the movement are captured in some detail in the book, it is demonstrated how inclusion of the women's movement fundamentally challenges established interpretations of the way in which 'modern' Irish society has changed and developed, over time. In the process, new theoretical directions in Irish studies are created.
A Runner Among Falling Leaves by Ciaran O'Driscoll
Paperback; 17.00 IEP / 20.00 USD / 13.00 UK / 21.60 EURO; Liverpool, 174 pages [Add To Basket]
A photograph of the author taken at the age of 8 or 9 by his father shows him as a radiantly smiling child. Usually in childhood photographs, he looked pensive and distant, because the man who had the power to make him smile so rarely exercised that power. In this memoir of his childhood, the Irish poet eloquently examines his troubled relationship with this father, whose bullying and mental abuse affected him profoundly throughout his life. It was difficult enough for the young boy at home, but his father was also his teacher, and humiliated him further in front of his peers at school. In the book the author unearths his anger and sadness in a candid exploration of his early life, and has written a book that is lyrical, affecting, and at times darkly comical.
The Yew-Tree at the Head of the Strand by Brian Cosgrove
Paperback; 17.00 IEP / 20.00 USD / 13.00 UK / 21.60 EURO; Liverpool, 225 pages [Add To Basket]
This book is an affectionate and humurous memoir of growing up in Newry - predominantly Catholic and sometimes fiercely Nationalist - in the 1940s and 50s. From the lively atmosphere of his father's pub to the broadening horizons at the Queen's University, Belfast, the author evokes a childhood and adolescence enlivened by comics, story books and films, seaside summer holidays in Warrenpoint with his brothers and sisters, and visits to his Uncle Johnny's farm at Lislea. Along the way he reflects on the culture he grew up in, where every aspect of life - education, sport, politics, sex - was experienced under the pervasive influence of a Catholic/Nationalist ethos.
The Wearing of the Green: A Political History of the Irish in Manchester by Michael Herbert
Paperback; 17.00 IEP / 20.00 USD / 13.00 UK / 21.60 EURO; IBRP, 224 pages [Add To Basket]
This book is a full-length study of two hundred years of Irish political activity in Manchester. It examines the Manchester Irish contribution to the struggle for Irish independence and freedom in political movements such as the United Irishmen, Fenianism, Home Rule and Republicanism and also looks at their role in radical movements such as Chartism, trade unionism and Votes for Women.
Surviving the Tudors: The 'Wizard' Earl of Kildare and English Rule in Ireland, 1537-1586 by Vincent Carey
Hardback; 40.00 IEP / 47.00 USD / 35.00 UK / 50.80 EURO; Four Courts Press, 240 pages [Add To Basket]
This book focuses on the political and social world of Gerald Fitzgerald the 'Wizard' earl of Kildare from 1537 to 1586. Kildare's experience provides the reader with an important insight into the process by which the Irish elites came into conflict with the crown and its representatives in the decades after the fateful Kildare rebellion in 1534. As the case of the 'Wizard' earl suggests, however, this outcome was not inevitable. After surviving Henry VIII's efforts to capture him while in exile on the continent, Kildare went on in the reign of Edward VI to salvage his lands and return to Ireland. Under the Catholic Mary he was restored to the earldom and re-established Geraldine primacy on the Leinster borders.
2RN and the Origins of Irish Radio by Richard Pine
Paperback; 15.99 IEP / 17.50 USD / 13.50 UK / 20.40 EURO; Four Courts Press, 207 pages [Add To Basket]
In 1923, following the Irish Civil War, the Postmaster General of the Irish Free State decided to establish a national radio service. In a society exhausted by war and eager for reconstruction, it was a divisive and volatile proposal. The Dail committee appointed to examine the various options for granting a broadcasting licence uncovered a major political scandal involving accusations of bribery and corruption, and leading to calls for a tribunal of inquiry. This book introduces readers to an early episode in the history of the Irish Free State that featured many of its most colourful and controversial characters and precipitated a political crisis including resignations and suicides. This book is an important addition to a major period of debate and dissension during the founding years of the Irish Free State.
Gender Meets Genre: Woman as Subject in the Fictional Universe of Matile Serao by Ursula Fanning
Hardback; 35.00 IEP / 40.00 USD / 30.00 UK / 44.50 EURO; Irish Academic Press, 300 pages [Add To Basket]
This book offers a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the fiction of a Neopolitan novelist and journalist whose work spanned the turn of the nineteenth century and, widely translated, was in her own lifetime the object of both critical and popular acclaim. Dr. Fanning, currently lecturer in the Department of Italian at University College, Dublin, identifies a particular tension for Serao that involves both her view of herself as a woman writer and the representation of women in her fiction, with some surprising results. This analysis of a novelist who writes simultaneously within and outside accepted literary frameworks will be of interest to those concerned with nineteenth and twentieth century fiction, women's writing and women's history.
An Irish Lad by William Robertson MacDonald
Hardback; 25.00 IEP / 28.50 USD / 20.00 UK / 31.80 EURO; Pippa Press, 170 pages, with colour photos on every page. [Add To Basket]
This beautiful book is a collection of original and traditional poems, songs and ballads presented in a visual format for the enjoyment of all.
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