Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 130
Northern Ireland: An Unsettled People by Susan McKay (Paperback; 18.20 IEP / 25.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
Largely regarded by the outside world in a negative light, many Protestants in Northern Ireland feel beleaguered, misunderstood and out-manoeuvred. But to what extent are Protestants undermined by a sectarianism that few of them acknowledge - including perhaps an ambivalence to loyalist violence? Within the overall Protestant community there is a wide diversity of views, from hardline defenders of the Union to a surprisingly large number who would welcome the end to the notion of a Protestant State for a Protestant people. With the current peace process founded on awareness that there can be no resolution to the conflict without the consent of both communities, a deeper understanding of the range and complexity of Protestant attitudes has never been more essential. This important book by a distinguished journalist breaks new ground in the search for that understanding. Presenting and analysing over sixty in-depth interviews with a wide range of northern Protestants, the author gives the clearest picture yet of these perplexing - and perplexed - people.
Flash Frames: Twelve Years Reporting Belfast by Mark Devenport (Paperback; 18.20 IEP / 25.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
The author of this book arrived in Northern Ireland in 1986 as a trainee BBC journalist and twelve years later he left as the BBC's Ireland Correspondent, having covered bombings, shootings and all the momentous events of the peace process - two IRA ceasefires, the loyalist paramilitary response, visits by the American President, and the Good Friday Agreement. In this book he recalls the events, people and images of his time in Northern Ireland. A candid and frequently funny memoir, he summons images and anecdotes too off-beat or too personal to make it into his reports at the time, but which, in retrospect, appear both telling and compelling. The result is a refreshingly new perspective on Northern Ireland through the eyes of an English 'blow-in'.
Writing Irish: Selected Interviews with Irish Writers from the Irish Literary Supplement edited by James P. Myers, Jr. (Paperback; 30.50 IEP / 37.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
This collection comprises sixteen interviews originally published in the Irish Literary Supplement between 1984 and 1994. The editor introduces the collection with a critical essay exploring some of the aesthetics and conventions of the interview form itself. The conversations record the authors' perceptions of their own works, the process by which those writings came into being, and commentary on other writers' work. From the lively give-and-take of the dialogue, the interviews reveal that passion with which the authors regard literature and their own writing. The interviewees are: John McGahern, Jennifer Johnston, John Montague, William Trevor, Brendan Kennelly, Michael Longley, John Banville, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, Tom Paulin, Hugh Leonard, Medbh McGuckian, Eavan Boland, Paul Muldoon, Derek Mahon, Eilean Ni Chuilleanain and Benedict Kiely.
White Knights, Dark Earls: The Rise and Fall of an Anglo-Irish Dynasty by Bill Power (Paperback; 14.99 IEP / 18.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
The White Knights took possession of huge estates around Mitchelstown, County Cork, in the fourteenth century. In the 1650s, Sir John King married Catherine Fenton, sole heir of the last White Knight. For the next 250 years Mitchelstown was home to the Kings - barons and earls of Kingston. The family built great houses and towns, and included scholars, soldiers and lunatics among its ranks. Their wealth made them one of the most influential dynasties in Ireland. IN 1823, the 3rd earl, a medieval lord out of his time, built Mitchelstown Castle, the largest neo-Gothic mansion in Ireland. It survived through famine, bankruptcy and the land war of the 1880s, until an August night in 1922 when the castle was burned by Republican Civil War forces. Priceless paintings, tapestries, furniture and silver had been looted in the weeks before the fire. In 1925 the castle was demolished, its cut-limestone blocks sold to the Cistercians to build the new abbey at Mount Mellary, Country Waterford. This book traces these events and records visits of modern members of the King family to the site of the ancestral home. The remains of many of the family lie in the vault beneath the chapel at Kingston College, Mitchelstown.
Travellers: Citizens of Ireland edited by Erica Sheehan (Paperback; 9.00 IEP / 12.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
This book is a comprehensive overview of Traveller life, culture and faith, which also extensively addresses the burning contemporary issues of accommodation, discrimination, education and health which adversely affect the quality of life of a community whose infant mortality rate is three times the national average. The book helps to promote an awareness of the widely misunderstood concept of nomadism which is a vibrant reality that shapes, pervades and lies at the heart of Traveller life and identity. It is mainly written by Travellers and presents the reader with a challenge to create an intercultural Irish society in the 21st century.
A Burren Journal by Sarah Poyntz (Paperback; 7.99 IEP / 10.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
The author's diaries give a striking picture of life in the unique landscape of the Burren. She describes the changing seasons, the birds and animals, the wild flowers for which the Burren is famous and the lives of the people of the village of Ballyvaughan. The illustrations by Anne Korff and Gordon D'Arcy bring her words to life.
The Unfortunate Fursey by Mervyn Wall (Paperback; 8.99 IEP / 11.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
The Devil himself has launched a determined offensive on the sanctified precincts of tenth-century Clonmacnoise - and the unfortunate Brother Fursey becomes his own unwilling ally. Expelled from the monastery, Fursey is propelled into a wider world of evil and intrigue, where he must come to terms with his new life as an unwitting, ineffectual and persecuted sorcerer. Mervyn Wall has created an irresistible blend of satire, comedy and fantasy in this novel. The gentle, self-effacing Fursey is one of the great anti-heroes of fiction.
Wild Ireland: A Traveller's Guide by Brendan Lehane (Paperback; 12.99 IEP / 15.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
This guide takes the reader on a tour of some of the remotest and most beautiful spots in Ireland. It contains evocative descriptions of more than 70 wild places with entertaining personal anecdotes. It explains how to get to each place, where to stay and what to do, with relevant telephone numbers, email and website addresses. It includes the activities of walking, climbing, bird-watching, cycling, fishing, riding, caving and sailing. There are maps for each region, in colour, and major exploration zones in black-and-white. There are colour photographs of landscapes and line drawings of plants and animals.
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