Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 197
The Invasion Handbook by Tom Paulin
Hardback; 16.99 Euro / 15.50 USD / 14.75 UK; Faber, 202 pages [Add To Basket]
In this book, the poet sets out to recount the origins of the Second World War. The result is a triumph of technique, a simultaneous vision that proceeds by quotation and collage, catalogue and caption, prose as well as verse - a myriad staging of historical realities through the poet's intense and penetrating scrutiny of the particulars of time and place. The volume opens with the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919, which excluded Germany from the community of nations, and with the answering but ill-fated attempt of the Locarno Treaties of 1925 to restore the torn fabric of Europe. It evokes Weimar culture, Hitler's rise to power and the beginnings of the persecution of the Jews, and ends with the Battle of Britain. Paulin is at pains to affirm the struggle and the memory of a generation upon whom the doors of living memory are now closing, and in his poem of war he develops themes which have haunted his poetry: the relation of art to questions of conflict and national identity, the search for peace and for a shared civic culture.
The Little Book of Judas by Brendan Kennelly
Paperback; 16.20 Euro / 15.00 USD / 14.50 UK; Bloodaxe Books, 224 pages [Add To Basket]
The Book of Judas, Brendan Kennelly's 400-page epic poem in twelve parts, was a number one bestselling book in Ireland 10 years ago. This book is a distillation of that literary monster, purged to its traitorous essence. But Judas never goes away. He continued to worm his way into Kennelly's imagination long after the original book was 'finished', and this book includes some damning new revelations from the eternal scapegoat and outcast.
Joyce's Dublin: An Illustrated Commentary by Rosanna Negrotti
Hardback; 15.00 Euro / 13.50 USD / 12.50 UK; Caxton, 184 pages, with colour illustrations throughout [Add To Basket]
James Joyce was born in Rathgar, a Dublin suburb. His childhood was spent in a dozen different addresses scattered across the city, as his father's wealth declined. He attended University College, Dublin, and, shortly after graduating, rejected a medical career to become a writer. In June 1904 his path crossed with Nora Barnacle on a Dublin street: four months later they left Ireland together, and spent the rest of their lives living in Europe with only a few short visits back to Ireland. In this way, Joyce's Dublin is a place created by memories. Though it permeates all of his writing, it remains in some way an unreal city, which the author accessed through a process of recollection and imagination. And the modern day Dublin is a changed and changing place. The author's photography reveals the city which has survived, complemented by 19th century etchings, illustrations and photographs showing views familiar to Joyce. A commentary by Rosanna Negrotti charts the journey she herself made to Dublin, tracking Joyce, a century on.
Rory Gallagher: A Biography by Jean-Noel Coghe
Paperback; 12.99 Euro / 11.50 USD / 10.50 UK; Mercier Press, 192 pages [Add To Basket]
This book contains the incredible story of the boy from Cork, Ireland whose talent as a guitarist emerged at an early age. He began his musical career in the showband era, playing support for the likes of the Everly Brothers, the Animals and the Byrds, but turned his back on that world and founded the band Taste, with whom he toured Europe in 1968, gaining great acclaim. Touring in North America and Canada, he rubbed shoulders with Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood and Jimi Hendrix. The band, however, broke up shortly afterwards. Rory recorded his first solo album in 1971. It was the gateway to over 20 years of recording, playing live and collaborating with the Fureys, the Davy Spillane Band, the Dubliners and many others. The tragic death of Rory Gallagher in 1995 at the age of 47 robbed Ireland of one of its finest musicians, an artist whose development closely mirrored that of Irish music in general. At his funeral in Cork, the musical world - stars, fans, friends and colleagues - mourned one of the all-time greats, an innovative and gifted guitarist who laid the foundations for the development of Irish rock and blues.
Jonathan: Jonathan Philbin Bowman - Memories, Reflections, Tributes by John Bowman
Paperback, 14.99 Euro / 13.50 USD / 12.50 UK; How Tatt Press, 270 pages, with photos [Add To Basket]
Jonathan Philbin Bowman (1969-2000) was one of the most controversial Irish journalists and broadcasters of his generation. He seemed to know everybody. Those who met him remembered him. And in this book they recall the Jonathan they knew. The book commemorates and chronicles his short life. It is not a conventional biography, but rather an impressionistic portrait based on the testimony of some 200 contributors, who range from those who met him only once to some who had known him from childhood. The include the writers, politicians, singers, cooks, entrepreneurs, publishers, lawyers, actors, teachers, artists, bankers, nuns, architects, a puppeteer, a psychiatrist, a wine writer, a potter and some of his former girlfriends. It is essentially an anthology of comment about him since he died drawn from the press, broadcasting, letters to his family, and material written especially for this book.
From Behind a Closed Door: Secret Court Martial Records of the 1916 Easter Rising by Brian Barton
Paperback; 23.99 Euro / 22.00 USD / 20.00 UK; Blackstaff Press, 343 pages [Add To Basket]
Kept secret for over eight years - the controversial British court martial records of the executed leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. After quashing the Easter Rising of 1916, the British army court-martialled almost two hundred prisoners. Around ninety of them received death sentences, but the death penalty was confirmed for only the fifteen men considered by the British to be the leaders. All fifteen were executed. For most of the twentieth century, official British records of the fifteen trials were kept a close secret and were in fact only released in 1999. Further material released in 2001 included the trial of Countess Markievicz and important evidence about 'shoot to kill' British military tactics. These records, the subject of heated speculation and propaganda for over eighty years, are now clearly presented in this important book. The complete transcripts are all here, together with fascinating photographs of the Rising, the fifteen leaders and the key British players. The author's incisive commentary explains the context of the trials and the motivations of the leaders, providing an invaluable insight into what went on behind a closed door at a defining moment in Irish history.
Wherever Green is Worn: The Story of the Irish Diaspora by Tim Pat Coogan
Paperback; 13.99 Euro / 12.50 USD / 11.50 UK; Arrow, 744 pages, with 2 8-page b/w photo inserts [Add To Basket]
The total population of the island of Ireland is only five million - some 800,000 of whom describe themselves as British! - yet there are seventy million people on the planet entitled to call themselves Irish!
This groundbreaking book tells their story. It is based on first-hand research in North and South American, Africa, the UK, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Apart from contemporary interviews with significant figures from today's diaspora, it also explores how the Great Scattering occurred, through war, famine and dispossession. How a stricken people produced the movers and shakers, the dreamers of dreams who climbed to the world's highest pinnacles of politics and the arts. It does full justice to the horrors which lay behind some of the emigration, but concentrates also on the extraordinary and positive experience of Irish people throughout the world.
Along with the brawlers and battlers, the heroic soldiers, the passionate labour leaders, the American presidents, the Australian Prime Ministers, the founders of Latin American nations and the creators of Riverdance and U2, the Irish gave the world a caring tradition, the missionaries and the teachers who spread a message of a 'dream born in a herdsman's shed and the secret scriptures of the poor.'
Some died by the wayside, some successfully pitched their tents near the stars. All come to live in this vivid historical and contemporary portrait by Ireland's most readable and most trenchant contemporary historian. (This book was one of our Top Non Fiction Titles for 2001)
Breaking the Bonds: Making Peace in Northern Ireland by Fionnuala O Connor
Trade Paperback; 18.00 Euro / 16.50 USD / 15.50 UK; Mainstream, 288 pages [Add To Basket]
This book charts Northern Ireland's arduous path out of conflict. After so many deaths, bereavements and terrible injuries, so much destruction, the hope is that a new and better Northern Ireland is emerging. The political figures who have tried to lead the way out of the dark days of the Troubles are profiled herein, including John Hume, Gerry Adams and David Trimble. Others, who have harried and condemned the peace process, the Reverend Ian Paisley large among them, are also closely examined. People in Northern Ireland watch their politicians with amazement, fury, sometimes disbelief, and occasionally with affection and pride. The author portrays the men, and a few women, in the context of remarkable times; their strengths and peculiarities highlighted by the media coverage of events. Northern Ireland's outstanding cartoonist Ian Knox captures those profiled as their acts and histories reveal them.
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