Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 439
31 January 2009
Irish Florilegium: Wild and Garden Plants of Ireland by Wendy Walsh and Charles Nelson
Hardback; 85 Euro / 125 USD / 65 UK
Wendy Walsh, following in the traditions of botanical artists from previous ages, has put her exceptional skills to marvellous effect in this beautiful collection of watercolour drawings. She has painted here a selection of the native and cultivated flora of Ireland, where she lives, chosen not only for their botanical interest or attractiveness but also because they happen to have an interesting history: Ireland has produced a surprising number of devoted and intrepid plant-hunters who played a significant part in the introduction into Europe of plants from remote places. Ruth Isabel Ross recounts the history of plant collecting and horticulture by the Irish since earliest times, and Dr Charles Nelson has written extensive notes on the individual plants. The main attraction of this book, however, remains the delicate and subtle watercolour drawings of Wendy Walsh, who works only from nature, painting the actual plants that are her subjects.
Days We Remember by Deirdre Purcell
Hardback; 30 Euro / 40 USD / 20 UK; 274 pages, with full colour and black-and-white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
In Ireland over the past forty years, we have had many days to remember. We have laughed and cried, cheered and changed as the country has become a major economy and multicultural nation. In Days We Remember, Deirdre Purcell, using her own inimitable style has interviewed twenty-five people who embody our memory of some of those events. Gay Byrne on the outcry when Ann Lovett died in a Marian garden in Granard, Ray Houghton on scoring that goal, Gill Bowler on the freedom of travelling to a sun holiday, Bertie Ahern on the Good Friday Agreement, while Bishop Magee recounts the Pope's visit to Ireland in 1979. Days We Remember is a book of all our memories, looking at the events that have made us who we are today.
The Emperor and the Irishman: Napoleon and Dr Barry O’Meara on St Helena by Dr Hubert O’Connor
Hardback; 25 Euro / 36 USD / 18 UK; 216 pages
The romantic story of the young Irish doctor who leaped at the chance to look after Napoleon in his banishment. In one of the most isolated places in the world, 1,200 miles from the nearest land, Napoleon, Dr Barry O’Meara and his entourage fought a constant battle with the security obsessives who were his jailers. Terrified lest Napoleon escape, they piled petty restriction on petty restriction, and at one point asked O’Meara to spy on his great patient. He refused, and was sacked. Back in London he told the story, despite social and political pressure. He was sacked again, and was obliged to start his medical practice from scratch. Napoleon was only 51 when he died on the island. The book ends with detailed solution of the question—was he poisoned by his British jailers?
A Fine Statement: An Irish Poet’s Anthology edited by John McDonagh
Hardback; 20 Euro / 28 USD / 14 UK; 306 pages [Add To Basket]
For 'A Fine Statement', John McDonagh asked twenty-two of Ireland's best-loved poets to choose their five favourite poems from their own lifetime of work, and to write a brief introduction explaining their choice. The result is a wonderfully revealing and eclectic mix of poems, some familiar, some surprising. The poets featured are Pat Boran, Ciaran Carson, Harry Clifton, Theo Dorgan, Paul Durcan, Peter Fallon, Kerry Hardie, Seamus Heaney, Rita Ann Higgins, Brendan Kennelly, Michael Longley, Derek Mahon, Medbh McGuckian, Paula Meehan, John Montague, Sinead Morrissey, Paul Muldoon, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, Bernard O'Donoghue, Cathal Ó Searchaigh and Mícheál Ó Siadhail.
Republicanism in Ireland: Confronting Theories and Traditions edited by Iseult Honohan
Trade Paperback; 20 Euro / 28 USD / 14 UK; 180 pages
This volume explores the meaning of republicanism in contemporary Ireland. While this has often been identified simply with nationalism, the book examines the connections, comparisons and contrasts between Irish republicanism and other strands of republican politics: the ideology and practice of official French republicanism, the broader European and American civic republican tradition and the contemporary revival of this tradition of citizenship.Academics from different disciplines, along with statesmen and politicians from different political perspectives, are brought together to address these questions: has Irish republicanism constituted a specific ideology? To what extent has it been part of a wider republican mainstream? Are there lessons to be drawn from the experience of French republicanism? What has been the practical impact of republican ideas in political practice? What does it mean for an Irish political party to be republican? And has republicanism any bearing on the immediate concerns of twenty-first century politics?The book examines the relationship of historical and contemporary Irish republicanism to the wider republican theoretical tradition; it considers the example of French republican experience; it analyses the variety of, and changes in, political positions among those parties describing themselves as republican in Ireland in the twenty-first century and it examines the possible relevance of the ideas of the broader republican tradition for future politics in Ireland, in the context of multiculturalism, economic globalisation and increasing regional and transnational governance. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in the ideas at work in the evolution of Irish politics, North and South.
Tom, Ned and Kitty: An Intimate Portrait of an Irish Family by Eliza Pakenham
Paperback; 12 Euro / 18 USD / 9 UK; 270 pages [Add To Basket]
'I am standing in the dining room of my father's house in Ireland, gazing up at ten Pakenham family portraits. What thoughts went on behind those passive, chalky faces? How can I bring them out of the shadows?' Eliza Pakenham, granddaughter of the seventh Earl of Longford, chronicles the fortunes of her colourful ancestors against the backdrop of Napoleonic wars and Irish revolutions. Through her painstaking research and discovery of hidden records, she unearthed the story of an extraordinary dynasty peppered with intriguing characters: Kitty, Duchess of Wellington, kept apart from her love for over a decade; Tom, second Earl of Longford, who fathered three illegitimate children; and Ned, the darling of the family, a war hero. Through them we learn of life in times of peace and war, of the pain of bereavement, and rapid changes in politics and society. A vivid and absorbing account of a fascinating generation, brought truthfully to life.
Witchcraft and Whigs: The Life of Bishop Francis Hutchinton, 1660-1739 by Andrew Sneddon
Hardback; 75 Euro / 100 USD / 50 UK; 220 pages [Add To Basket]
This ground-breaking biography of Bishop Francis Hutchinson (1669-1739) draws upon a wealth of primary source material, and provides a rare portrait of an early eighteenth-century Anglican bishop and witchcraft theorist. This study illustrates how one of the most important sceptical texts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, An Historical essay concerning witchcraft, was constructed, and details the controversial nature of its eventual publication in 1718. It allows the reader a unique insight into how Hutchinson's witchcraft beliefs fitted into the wider intellectual and literary context of the time, examining his views on contemporary debates concerning astrology, prophecy, miracles, demonic and Satanic intervention, and the nature of Angels and hell. Through an un-paralleled study of Hutchinson's clerical career, the book also increases our understanding of the lives and work of the eighteenth-century established clergy, both in England and Ireland. It provides a detailed account of how Hutchinson's 'Whiggish' social and cultural ideology shaped both his commitment to schemes to convert Irish Catholics to Protestantism (using a newly invented, phonetic form of written Irish), and to 'improve' Ireland, socially, culturally and economically. This book will be of particular interest to academics and students in the areas of the history of witchcraft, and the religious, political and social history of Britain and Ireland in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
In the Shadows of Giants: A Social History of the Belfast Shipyards by Kevin Johnston
Hardback; 25 Euro / 36 USD / 18 UK; 361 pages [Add To Basket]
Toward the end of the nineteenth century, at the height of the industrial revolution, the city of Belfast WAS its shipyards. A city whose rise to wealth had been founded first on linen, reached its apogee in shipbuilding. Its biggest yard, Harland & Wolff, built the largest and most famous ship ever to sail and sink — the Titanic.
The industrial revolution — and shipbuilding in particular — transformed Belfast from a small, lively provincial city into a fully-fledged manufacturing giant. The city took on the appearance of a typical nineteenth-century industrial centre, similar to many others in north-west Britain. Belfast and its surrounding region became very much a part of that larger British manufacturing economy which was the symbol of the imperial heyday. As such, it looked physically different to other Irish cities and towns and that, in turn, had implications for its politics.
In telling the story of Harland & Wolff, Workman Clark and the other Belfast yards, Kevin Johnston is in effect writing a social history of the city of Belfast from 1850 to 1970. By the latter date, as Belfast was sinking into the quagmire of the Troubles, the great days were gone. In common with many post-industrial areas, Belfast struggled to keep pace with the changing world. But for over a century it had been one of the great shipbuilding powerhouses in the world, and the city we know developed in the shadow of this enterprise.
Two in a Million by Ben Murnane
Trade Paperback; 12 Euro / 18 USD / 9 UK; 192 pages [Add To Basket]
Ben is a normal bright ambitious student. The only difference between his life and yours is that he has a rare genetic blood disease--Fanconi anaemia--which gives sufferers a life expectancy of twenty-two years. At the age of sixteen Ben became the first person in Ireland to have a revolutionary type of bone marrow transplant. But getting through it wasn't easy: he suffered a psychotic episode which made him unable to recognise his doctors, his parents . . . And, before the tranplant even began, he had to tell the girl he loved that he had only a 50 per cent chance of survival. Two in a Million describes what it's like to live with a life-threatening condition, to undergo a life-saving procedure, to recover slowly and try to live normally as a student in Dublin. Told with humour and honesty, this is a remarkable story.
Uncle Hugo by Paul Evans
Paperback; 17 Euro / 24 USD / 12 UK; 176 pages, with two 8-page photo inserts [Add To Basket]
Hugo Duncan is the wee man from Strabane who has made it big. He is one of the most popular entertainers in Irish country music, and a broadcaster with a hugely successful afternoon show on BBC Radio Ulster. He's also a live wire whose reputation for fun and banter is as legendary as the warmth and affection he has for his audience. But it's never been an easy road. In this fully authorised biography, Hugo talks frankly about his family: his devoted mother who brought him up on her own, and the father he never knew; and his music - the thrill of performing, the showband days and his life on the road.Backstage, another story was playing out - Hugo's increasing dependence on drink was wreaking havoc on his family life and career. His journey back to sobriety and success was long and hard, but Hugo never gave up. Take your seats and put your hands together for the Hugo Duncan story - as lively as the man himself, and with its fair share of laughter and tears, the craic's bound to be mighty. And remember ...your Uncle Hugo Loves You!
A Little Book of Hours by John F. Deane
Paperback; 13 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; 100 pages [Add To Basket]
"A Little Book of Hours" begins in a sermon by John Donne: 'No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.' The Irish poet John F. Deane takes a period of time and sifts through it for meaning and purpose. His new collection explores how each human being shares in an integrated universe, though our world is variously broken by individual conflict, wars and natural violence. Beginning with an account of the simplest-seeming island people and their troubled though productive lives, "A Little Book of Hours" continues with a series of poems about King David, great poet and warrior, which consider the ineffectuality of war and the place of poetry in building towards a just society. The title sequence journeys through Europe in search of sacred truth, emulating the journey of Tobias attended by the angel. Deane's book is a meditation in which the Christian vision is seen to penetrate and bind all of humanity and nature.
The Origami Crow: Journey into Japan, World Cup Summer 2002 by Eamonn Carr
Large Format Paperback with Endflaps; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; black-and-white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
As a sports columnist for a Dublin daily, journalist Eamon Carr watched the unfolding drama of the 2002 World Cup finals firsthand in Japan. Yet against the intense public spectacle of media attention following the controversial departure of Ireland captain Roy Keane, Carr followed his own private journey - a lifelong quest to visit the shrines and places of the famed poet Matsuo Basho, recognized master of haiku. In a volume of spare, elegant prose and his own haiku chronicling impressions and revelations of that journey, Carr explores the deep interrelationships found within the seeming contrasts of ancient and modern, nation and individual, crowd and solitude, loss and victory. Histories, memories and legends, as well as the wry personal observations of the weary working traveller, merge to create this profoundly moving narrative on the universal nature of grace and redemption.
A Story to Be Told: Personal Reflections on the Irish Immigrant Experience in Canada edited by Eleanor McGrath
Hardback; 40 Euro / 55 USD / 30 UK; 190 pages, with full colour photographs throughout [Add To Basket]
In Canada today there are thousands of Irish men and women who came between the years of 1940 and 1999 for a better life, a different life. Some knew they would never return to Ireland, some believed they would only stay a few years. Yet those who stayed comprise a dynamic and vital part of the Canadian mosaic. This book collects the stories of 130 emigrants in order to preserve them for future generations, to know and understand what the life of an immigrant was and is in Canada, what it meant for an Irish person to leave the island and travel across the Atlantic Ocean to start a new life. Many went to Canada with only a few dollars and the name of a 'friend of a friend' as a contact. This book tells their stories...
The Fridge-Hiker’s Guide to Life by Tony Hawks
Gift Hardback; 12 Euro / 18 USD / 9 UK; 190 pages [Add To Basket]
Many moons ago, a foolhardy attempt to win a drunken bet resulted in Tony Hawks embarking on one of the most unforgettable experiences of his life. Joined by his trusty travelling companion-cum-domestic appliance - i.e. his fridge - he found himself in the midst of a remarkable, inspirational and, at times, downright silly adventure. His journey was chronicled in a book that would go on to be an international bestseller - "Round Ireland with a Fridge". In "The Fridge-Hiker's Guide to Life", Tony looks back on what he learnt on his quixotic quest. Namely: if all you have between birth and death is a journey, and if the journey is all we have, then wouldn't it be best to make it fun? Such is the Philosophy of the Fridge.Reflecting on the many encounters he had along the way - occasionally fraught, frequently hilarious and sometimes poignant - and the colourful cast of characters he met, Tony realises that following mantras as simple as 'Do something silly' or 'Find the courage to follow your intuition' can make a huge difference in making life that little bit more enjoyable. Witty, charming and uplifting, "The Fridge-Hiker's Guide" will make you look at both life and your kitchen appliances in a whole new way...
The New Adventures of Keats & Chapman by Tom Mathews
Small Hardback; 14 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; 104 pages [Add To Basket]
Mathews has long been an admirer of Flann O'Brien, especially his famous "Keats and Chapman" sketches. Here he attempts to re-invent the style and wit of the short pieces, with original columns done in the style of O'Brien's sketches. He succeeds wonderfully. Previously printed in "Hot Press", each column humorously builds up to a punch line, based on a pun. With a cult following for both O'Brien and Mathews firmly established in Ireland, this is sure to sell well.
Sing Up: Irish Comic Songs and Satires for Every Occasion compiled and introduced by Fintan Vallely
Trade Paperback; 12 Euro / 18 USD / 9 UK; 254 pages [Add To Basket]
Sing Up! is a collection of comic and satirical lyrics that comment on recent changes and developments in Irish society. It is, in the editor's own words "a gather-up of intolerance, irreverence, slagging and sedition"-and all the more welcome and necessary for that. "Most of the events commemorated in the lyrics took place over the 1980s and 1990s. The songs document the huge changes in Irish culture and society inside a small number of years. The territory is mostly modern Ireland in all its miseries, elations and protest, change and no change." Sex, National Politics, Drink, Fast Food, Traditional Music, Religion, Recreation, Agriculture, the Weather-all are analysed in depth herein through the medium of the direct slag, the obtuse dig, the dry remark. Fintan Vallely is a musician and writer on traditional music. From Co. Armagh, he has taught flute at the Willie Clancy Summer School in Co. Clare since 1986. He is the author of, among other works, the major reference volume, The A-Z Companion to Irish Traditional Music (1999). He is currently lecturer in traditional music on an innovative undergraduate music degree programme in Ireland at Dundalk Institute of Technology.
Compendium of Celtic Crafts by Judy Balchin et. al.
Large Format Paperback; 17 Euro / 24 USD / 12 UK; 192 pages, with full colour photos and illustrations throughout [Add To Basket]
A full-color practical step-by-step guide to craft techniques with a Celtic theme featuring calligraphy, illumination, jewelery making and decorative painting. It shows how to make glowing glass-painted designs, interlaced jewelery with knots and beads, cards, gift bags and more.
Handmade Celtic Cards by Paula Pascual
Paperback; 10 Euro / 14 USD / 7 UK; [Add To Basket]
Helps you to create greeting cards based on Celtic designs. This book contains step-by-step photographs that guide the reader through six projects. It includes a wide range of techniques such as stenciling, metal embossing and stamping.
Irish Myths and Legends: Fantastic Interactive Stories
Hardback; 19 Euro / 28 USD / 14 UK; [Add To Basket]
Enjoy four traditional Irish stories in this unique retelling of these wonderful legends. The dazzling illustrations by Pat Moffat, popups, flaps and other interactive elements make this a book to treasure for readers of all ages.
Please note: Prices were correct at time of original posting but are subject to subsequent change without notice.
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