Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 296
Brewer’s Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable by Sean McMahon and Jo O’Donoghue with a foreword by Maeve Binchy
Hardback; 40.00 Euro / 50.00 USD / 30.00 UK; 1140 pages
Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable is devoted exclusively to the history, culture, mythology and language of the island of Ireland. Like its parent volume (Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable), the 'Irish Brewer' covers a huge range of different subjects, and will be particularly generous in its account of legend, superstition and folklore. It will be generous also in its insights into the origins and history of words and phrases, and will contain an remarkable array of expressions and allusions that the user might struggle to find in an 'ordinary' dictionary or encyclopedia of Ireland. Its 5000 A to Z entries entries include Celtic gods and goddesses, bards, beasts, literary allusions, proverbial sayings, idiomatic phrases and expressions, characters from Irish literature ancient and modern, resonant place-names, and individuals and events of 'iconic' stature in Irish history. A significant number of entries will relate to contemporary Irish life and culture. As is de rigueur with all Brewer's-branded titles, there will be material in abundance here to delight lovers of the odd, the obscure and the arcane.
Cavan: Essays on the History of an Irish County edited by Raymond Gillespie
Trade Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 240 pages [Add To Basket]
This book is a collection of essays, originally published in 1995, with a new preface from its editor, that highlights some of the more significant contributions to Cavan history over the last decade. Introduction: People, Place and Time by Raymond Gillespie. Perspectives on the Making of the Cavan Landscape by P.J. Duffy. Cavan: A Medieval Border Area by Ciaran Parker. The Anglicisation of East Breifne: The O’Reilly’s and the Emergence of County Cavan by Bernadette Cunningham. The Reformation of Kilmore Before 1641 by Alan Ford. Faith, Family and Fortune: The Structures of Everyday Life in Early Modern Cavan by Raymond Gillespie. The Formation of the Modern Catholic Church in the Diocese of Kilmore, 1580-1880 by James Kelly. Poverty and the Famine in County Cavan by Margaret Crawford. The Emergence and Consolidation of the Home Rule Movement in County Cavan, 1870-86 by Gerard Moran. Cavan in the Era of the Great Way, 1914-18 by Eileen Reilly.
Irish Women and Nationalism: Soldiers, New Women and Wicked Hags edited by Louise Ryan and Margaret Ward
Trade Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 240 pages
Studies of Irish nationalism have been primarily historical in scope and overwhelmingly male in content. Too often, the "shadow of the gunman" has dominated. Little recognition has been given to the part women have played, yet over the centuries they have undertaken a variety of roles - as combatants, prisoners, writers and politicians. In this title the full range of women's contribution to the Irish nationalist movement is explored by writers whose interests range from the historical and sociological to the literary and cultural. From the little known contribution of women to the earliest nationalist uprisings of the 1600s and 1700s, to their active participation in the republican campaigns of the 20th century, different chapters consider the changing contexts of female militancy and the challenge this has posed to masculine images and structures. Using a wide range of sources, including textual analysis, archives and documents, newspapers and autobiographies, interviews and action research, individual writers examine sensitive and highly complex debates around women's role in situations of conflict. This book represents a contribution to wider feminist debates about the gendering of nationalism, raising questions about the extent to which women's rights, demands and concerns can ever be fully accommodated within nationalist movements.
Irish Secrets: German Espionage in Wartime Ireland, 1939-1945 by Mark Hull
Trade Paperback; 28.00 Euro / 34.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 383 pages [Add To Basket]
This book explores why German intelligence ultimately failed, and proposes that the German effort represented a genuine menace to the Irish State and the Allies alike, which seriously threatened the official position of Irish neutrality. The book is a gripping account of the intelligence war and highlights the brilliant, creative success of Irish Military Intelligence in waging a counter-espionage campaign that effectively neutralized the German threat. Drawing from newly released intelligence files in several countries, in-depth interviews conducted with the participants, and other previously unpublished primary sources, this book conclusively rewrites what is presently known about a singularly fascinating aspect of the Second World War.
The Irish Experience During the Second World War: An Oral History by Benjamin Grob-Fitzgibbon
Trade Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 292 pages
This book is an oral history of the Irish experience during the Second World War. It brings together all aspects of this experience, from the young banker working on Grafton Street, through the IRA volunteer interned in the Curragh, to the soldier fighting in North Africa with the British Army. Through vivid accounts and recollections, this book shows how the Emergency period in Irish history was a triumph of peaceful methods over the tradition of physical force.
Viking Dublin by Ruth Johnson
Trade Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 18.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 96 pages, with black-and-white and colour photos throughout [Add To Basket]
A new addition to the Irish Treasure Series, by Dublin City Archaeologist Ruth Johnson, Viking Dublin explores the legacy of one of Dublins oldest and most influential group of settlers.
Bertie Ahern: A Political Biography by John Downing
Trade Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 18.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 242 pages [Add To Basket]
This book charts the rise of this most-determinedly ordinary Dubliner to become leader of the modern Irish nation and gain considerable international recognition. Bertie Ahern has now led Fianna Fail for 10 years and confounded many critics along the way. He has reunited a fractured party; won power and led a minority coalition through a full five-year term; and then won re-election. He is now determined to defy the odds and win a third term as Taoiseach. Through those years he has coped with unprecedented allegations of corruption against Fianna Fail in which his old patron, Charles Haughey, was a central figure. The affable face Bertie presents to the public conceals a ruthlessness only rarely seen but deployed on occasion with clinical efficiency. This biography looks upon an aloof figure underestimated for a very long time, as friends, colleagues and foes appraise the growing Ahern political legacy.
Prehistoric Music of Ireland by Simon O’Dwyer
Trade Paperback; 28.00 Euro / 34.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 160 pages, with photos throughout [Add To Basket]
This exploration of the ancient musical instruments of Ireland is based on the latest findings of archaeology, supplemented by information contained in some of the Early Medieval manuscripts and numerous legendary references. Recent research into Bronze Age wooden pipes, bronze horns, Iron Age Celtic trumps, and Early Medieval instruments has revealed a musical world of great richness and diversity. These investigations have uncovered fascinating evidence of ancient music and the possibility that it may be the origin of the musical tradition that is so much a part of Irish life today.
Ireland Ever: Photographs by Jill Freedman and Text by Frank and Malachy McCourt
Large Hardback; 30.00 Euro / 35.00 USD / 24.00 UK; 146 pages, with black-and-white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
A photographic portrait of the Irish landscape and its people commemorates traditional regional life with a range of duotone photographs, complemented with texts by best-selling Irish-American authors including Angela's Ashes's Frank McCourt and Singing My Him Song's, Malachy McCourt.
All Changed: 50 Years of Photographing Ireland by Colman Doyle and text by John Quinn
Large Hardback; 30.00 Euro / 35.00 USD / 24.00 UK; 170 pages, with full colour photos throughout [Add To Basket]
The past fifty years have been a time of immense change in Ireland, as the country has moved from a traditional to a modern society. The introduction of electricity, the 'quiet revolution', was accompanied by changes in attitudes to Church, sex, relationships, property, emigration - to life in general. In that short time people have absorbed massive change, often enthusiastically, though perhaps with the occasional pang of regret for the 'old ways'. Here we see the faces, the landscapes and the life of that recently disappeared Ireland - Jack Lynch, JFK, Grace Kelly, Dev, de Gaulle, the Troubles, folk traditions - alongside the new faces and the new styles of our modern society.
The Quiet Quarter: Anthology of New Irish Writing edited by Eoin Brady
Trade Paperback with endflaps; 12.50 Euro / 15.00 USD / 9.00 UK; 310 pages [Add To Basket]
This remarkable anthology declares the extraordinary breadth and quality of writing in Ireland today. Commissioned and broadcast on RTE Lyric FM’s Lyric Notes, here are ninety-two original prose pieces, be they life-stories or reflections on the natural world, meditations on faith of musings on music, language or people, each piece is succinct enough to read and digest in a single sitting.
3 Days in September: When the Pope Came to Ireland compiled by Peter O’Connell
Hardback; 30.00 Euro / 35.00 USD / 24.00 UK; 240 pages, with photos throughout [Add To Basket]
The Pope’s visit to Ireland in September 1979 attracted more excitement and interest than any concert or sporting event before or since. More than a million people turned out to greet John Paul at Phoenix Park, in the largest gathering in Europe in modern times. In this book leading figures from the worlds of Irish politics, religion, journalism and the arts offer their recollections of – and reflections on – the papal visit.
Wicklow and Dublin Mountains in 1812 by Arnold Horder
Map with 36 page Book; 15.00 Euro / 18.00 USD / 10.00 UK; [Add To Basket]
This carefully-executed map was prepared for the government-appointed commissioners charged with the task of assessing the extent and development potential of the bogs of Ireland. The map, which is reproduced here at a scale of 1:100,000 approximately, shows the Wicklow and Dublin mountains a few years after the convulsions of 1798, and just after the famous Military Road through the mountains had been completed. The map provides an important insight on the Wicklow and Dublin uplands in the early 19th century. It is reproduced here with a short commentary, and with the report of the map-maker, Richard Griffith.
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