Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 330
Mick: The Real Michael Collins by Peter Hart
Hardback; 30.00 Euro / 36.00 USD / 22.00 UK; 480 pages
Few people have had as profound an impact on their country's history in so short a time as Michael Collins had on twentieth-century Ireland. Dead at thirty-one, assassinated by a compatriot, he had already fought in the Easter Rising, been elected to four different parliaments, organized the IRA and smuggled in its arms, launched its guerrilla war, beat British intelligence at its own game, financed the revolution, negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty, run the first independent government of Ireland, and led the Irish army to victory as its first Commander-in-Chief. Collins gained international fame as the mystery man who could not be caught, the man who won the war and, paradoxically, the man who made peace with the British Empire and made it stick. That he also paid the ultimate price has ensured that he remains a hero and an icon both in his native country and abroad. Peter Hart's compelling and comprehensive biography draws on many hitherto unseen sources to explore the life of Michael Collins and to ask what made him such an extraordinary and complex man. Set to become the definitive work, Hart's is the first book fully to investigate Collins's life before becoming a revolutionary and the first to take a critical look at his rise to power and its consequences.
Achievers: Visionary Irish Leaders Who Achieved Their Dream by Ivor Kenny
Hardback; 35.00 Euro / 42.00 USD / 28.00 UK; 290 pages [Add To Basket]
In his latest book Achievers - Visionary Irish leaders who achieved their dream, Ireland's foremost management thinker Ivor Kenny speaks with a broad range of Irish visionary leaders – not all from the business world - including:
Lord Ballyedmond, Norbrook Laboratories;Denis Brosnan, Kerry Group; Dermot Desmond, IFSC
Moya Doherty, Riverdance; Sean Fitzpatrick, Anglo Irish Bank; Chris Horn, Iona Technologies
Philip Lynch, IAWS; Michael MacCormac, UCD Business Schools; Hugh Mackeown, Musgrave Group
Pádraig Ó Cčidigh, Aer Arann; Joyce O'Connor, National College of Ireland
Sir Anthony O'Reilly, Independent News & Media; Tom Roche, CRH
James Sheehan, Blackrock, Galway & Hermitage Clinics; Michael Smurfit, Jefferson Smurfit Group
Brody Sweeney, O'Briens Irish Sandwich Bars; Ed Walsh, University of Limerick;Ken Whitaker
The 18 participants in Achievers were chosen (a) because they had a dream, or purpose, or vision and (b) because they achieved it. They are all different. It would hardly be possible to put between the covers of this essential and interesting read, a wider variety of businesses, backgrounds and personalities. The thing they had in common was the ability to focus exclusively and unremittingly on their ultimate objective. Focus, absolute but shared focus, is the lesson of this book.
Maestro of Crystal: The Story of Miroslav Havel and Waterford Crystal by Brian F. Havel
Hardback; 20.00 Euro / 25.00 USD / 14.00 UK; 272 pages with two 10-page black-and-white photo inserts
How a young man from Czechoslovakia became the genius behind the celebrated designs of Waterford Crystal (including his signature Lismore pattern). Miroslav Havel came to Waterford from his home in Czechoslovakia at the age of 25, intending to stay only three months. He had been trained in glass-making at the prestigious High School of Industrial Design in Prague. Teaming up with an eccentric Czech businessman, Karel Bacik, Havel kept extending his stay in Ireland while the two men revived a crystal glass tradition that crippling British excise taxes had ended nearly two centuries before. The book traces Havel's early years growing up in Czechoslovakia, his father's bizarre business dealings and tempestuous lifestyle, his formation as a glass designer, his experiences during the Nazi occupation of his country, his mentor Bacik's sudden flight to Ireland, and Havel's strange adventures as a naive Czechoslovak joining Bacik in a distant country he mistakenly associated with tropical fruits and sunshine. The book explores how, after Bacik sold his interest to a group of Irish entrepreneurs, Havel remained in Ireland to guide the rise of Waterford Crystal by adapting antique Waterford crystal designs to modern production processes. It explains how his creative genius inspired him not only to design and install the magnificent chandeliers that now adorn Westminster Abbey and the Kennedy Centre in Washington, but to develop the beautiful suites of heavy lead crystal glasses that created a trusted brand identity for millions of consumers.
The Glens of Antrim: Landscape of the Glens: Evolution and Development by Alan Turner
Large Format Hardback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 140 pages, full colour illustrations throughout [Add To Basket]
While the Mountains of Mourne may have achieved the fame, the smaller Glens of Antrim have often remained a well-kept secret, lesser-travelled on the North coast but still well-loved by those who revel in the outstanding natural beauty of this area. The spirit of this beautiful area has been captured by Alan Turner as he explains how time, man and the elements have shaped this unique landscape into the natural treasure that it is today. Attractive photography throughout shows the Glens in all their moods from the gentle spring flowers to winter snows and the glory of summer. In addition apt quotes from verse and song are used throughout to reveal how other visitors to the area have been inspired. A treat to inspire anyone to travel the Coast Road.
The Irish Army in the Congo 1960-1964: The Far Battalions by David O’Donoghue
Trade Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 220 pages, with black-and-white photos throughout
Takes a refreshing look at the Congo in the immediate wake of independence in mid-1960, after almost a century of Belgian rule and contains secret army dossiers and previously unpublished photographs of military and civilian life in the newly independent Congo. It is based on the personal reminiscences of Irish Army veterans who served with the UN peacekeeping forces there from 1960 to 1964. In addition to tracking down foot soldiers, retired battalion commanders and journalists who covered the Congo, the author has also spoken to Belgian administrators who were part of the pre-independence administration in the huge African colony, two Swedish soldiers who played key roles as interpreters for the Irish Army units, a Congolese clergyman and a journalist from Kinshasa. The book also provides a useful background to the development of UN peacekeeping missions around the world. This was the first major overseas mission in which Irish troops had ever been involved.
The Irish Boats: Dublin to Liverpool by Malcolm McRonald
Trade Paperback; 30.00 Euro / 36.00 USD / 24.00 UK; 260 pages, with full colour illustrations throughout
The Irish Boats: Liverpool - Dublin is a history of the ferries and steam packets that have plied the Irish Sea between Dublin and Liverpool from the 1830s onwards. Using much original research the book will be the definitive history of the Irish Boats and the three volumes (Liverpool - Cork, Liverpool - Belfast and this one) will build to be the most important publication on ferries and Irish Sea Shipping for almost half a century.
Joe Stanley: Printer to the Rising by Tom Reilly
Hardback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 190 pages with black-and-white illustrations throughout [Add To Basket]
The recently discovered Stanley collection of records provides an unprecedented insight into Ireland’s struggle for independence. Joe Stanley was a young printer/publisher who during British rule in the early years of the twentieth century blatantly flouted the laws suppressing free speech under the very noses of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. Engaged in both printing and publishing material that supported the burgeoning nationalist and republican movements, Joe Stanley’s was one of a number of mosquito press operations which lived by their wits to keep the presses rolling despite frequent raids and harassment. His crucial role came during the Easter Rising of 1916. As the fires burned and the rifles cracked around the GPO, he acted as Pearse’s press agent, the leader of the Rising relying on Joe Stanley to get word to the masses that Ireland was rebelling once again. Numerous iconic documents and letters passed through his hands, and many have survived to this day. The most significant and rare are reproduced here for the first time, including transcripts handwritten by Pearse in the GPO – the very first documents of the Provisional Irish Government.
The War Diaries: From Prisoner-of-War to Peacemaker: An Autobiography by Ray Davey
Paperback; 13.50 Euro / 17.00 USD / 9.50 UK; 224 pages, with black-and-white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
When Ray Davey set sail from Belfast, Northern Ireland to North Africa in November 1940, little did he suspect how his experiences would change his life. While carrying out his duties with the YMCA, Davey bore witness to the ebb and flow of the Desert War, observing how the men around him dealt with the day-to-day realities of possible capture or death, often with great humour and greater courage. When Davey himself was captured and transferred to prisoner-of-war camps in Italy and Germany, he began to try to find meaning in the conflict raging around him. By writing down his observations in a series of notebooks, chronicling both the grand drama and the intimate detail of life in a theatre of war, he embarked on a spiritual voyage, learning vital and positive lessons that he would carry back with him to post-war Northern Ireland. These remarkable diaries, charting the author’s emotional journey from Tobruk to Dresden, provide an exciting and important addition to the literature of the Second World War.
The Canal Bridge by Tom Phelan
Trade Paperbacl; 15.00 Euro / 18.00 USD / 11.00 UK; 280 pages [Add To Basket]
This searing novel, set in the trenches of Flanders and the Irish midlands, tells of two friends from a rural town who join the British army and the devastating effect the First World War has on their lives. Con and Matt witness and participate in the terrible savagery of the battles of the Somme, Ypres and Passchendaele, where stretcher-bearers, soldiers, officers and horses alike vied for life among the carnage. Back home, Kitty, Con's sister, gives a focus to their childhood and hopes for a future. Matt survives and returns to Kitty and to an Ireland transformed by the events of the 1916 Easter Rising. During the 1920s, in the aftermath of both conflicts, the Big House becomes a target for an IRA unit, and the brutality of war is re-enacted on a local stage. Phelan's masterly Faulkneresque narrative conveys with sheer lyric power the physicality of warfare, and the trials of peacetime, capturing its ravages and repercussions for the human spirit, in a country on the cusp of nationhood. The "Canal Bridge" is a memorable, complex and dynamic triumph of story-telling that will endure in the memory.
Ireland’s Mammals by Juanita Browne
Large Format Hardback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 190 pages, with full colour photographs throughout [Add To Basket]
This book is an exciting introduction to Ireland’s mammals. The authors’ comprehensive and authoritative knowledge shines through every page of this wonderfully-illustrated book. Lively and informative text and stunning photographs.
Horses for Courses: A Racing Year by Anne Holland
Hardback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD; 20.00 UK; 200 pages with full colour photos throughout [Add To Basket]
This meticulously researched book, for which author Anne Holland visited every Irish racecourse and met many of Ireland's top racing personalities, highlights the individuality of each Irish racing venue. Each has its own special qualities and atmosphere but all share two common traits: a warm welcome and good sport. And that is what the author believes Irish racing is all about. The country courses enjoy a huge level of support from the local population. It may be raining and the races may be 'ordinary' but the stands will always be crowded. That is because racing is part of Irish culture and the nation's way of life: with 27 courses, it has proportionately far more venues than Great Britain. The people and horses featured within "Horses for Courses" are representative of the broad variety of personalities that make up Irish racing past and present. The book also reveals how much has been done to improve racecourse facilities since the mid-'90s and that substantial investment in the sport is ongoing today. There can be no better way of getting to know Ireland than by visiting its racecourses: from the glamour of Leopards town and the class of the Curragh to the majestic mountains around Killarney and the unique challenge of Downpatrick; from the warmth of welcome at Gowran Park and Clonmel to the summer holidaymakers' meetings and 'industry' days in the winter months.
It May Be Forever: An Irish Rebel on the American Frontier by David Quinn
Trade Paperback; 20.00 Euro / 26.00 USD / 14.00 UK; 370 pages [Add To Basket]
It May Be Forever" is a nineteenth century tale of adventure and tragedy, based upon the real-life story of Michael Quinn. To escape the grinding poverty of Ireland's Great Famine, Michael and his family flee to England, where at age eight, Michael becomes a child laborer in a textile mill. As he grows older and more aware of British prejudice and discrimination, he is motivated to enlist with the Fenian rebels, a group determined to free Ireland from British colonial rule. Chronic unemployment, however, drives him to America, and defeat on the battlefield lands him on the untamed plains of the Wild West. Faced with unaccustomed opportunity, Michael quickly abandons the fight against oppression and turns away from family and friends. Dreams of achieving a great fortune lead him to support the dispossession of Native Americans of their lands and livelihood. But, after the massacre at Wounded Knee, demons of conscience rise up in terrible nightmares, and only a Lakota holy man offers the hope of redemption. "It May Be Forever" is a cautionary tale, which shows how the many small decisions of life can create the most unintended consequences, and how easily a man of strong convictions may become that which he hates.
Gregory Carr, Bookseller
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