Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 447
2/3 May 2009
The Irish Times Universal World Atlas
Large Format Hardback (Boxed); Publishers Recommended Price: 65 Euro. Read Ireland Price: 55 Euro / 70 USD / 45 UK; 400 pages
The first ever world atlas to be published with The Irish Times. This atlas has a unique 32 page section at the front with mapping and geographical information for the whole of Ireland. A detailed world section follows with fascinating geographical information from every corner of the world. 190 pages of mapping provide an amazingly detailed view of the Ireland and the rest of the world with geographical information beside each map giving extra detail about each area. FULLY UP-TO-DATE DETAILED MAPPING The authoritative and accurate reference mapping reflects all recent political and geographical changes around the world. The comprehensive index illustrates the detail of this atlas. It contains over 50,000 place names that are fully cross-referenced with alternative and former names. MAIN FEATURES / Irish section with detailed maps of each of the provinces / Latest mapping, images and statistics on topical issues facing Ireland today from climate to tourism / Historical map section shows how the world looked over the last 150 years / The latest satellite images / Updated plans of 32 of the world's great cities are also included / Geographical reference section with flags, statistics and facts for all the world's countries / Comprehensive index to over 50,000 place names CHAPTER BREAKDOWN Ireland Satellite Images Historical mapping The World Today States and Territories World reference maps City plans Index
Sinn Fein and the Politics of Left Republicanism by Eoin O Broin
Large Format Paperback; 25 Euro / 30 USD / 19 UK; 343 pages [Add To Basket]
Sinn Féin is a growing force in Irish politics. Now the country's third largest party, Sinn Féin have been one of the central architects of the peace process and are increasingly setting the terms of political debate in Ireland north and south. Despite this, the party remains much misunderstood and often misrepresented. In Sinn Féin & The Politics of Left Republicanism, Sinn Féin activist Eoin Ó Broin explores the ideological and organisational origins of the party, charts their history and recent political development and assesses their possible futures. He argues that Sinn Féin is part of a distinct left-republican tradition in Irish society whose future lies in the globally resurgent radical democratic left.
The Captain and the King by Myles Dungan
Hardback; 30 Euro / 40 USD / 28 UK; 440 pages, with two 8-page black-and-white photo inserts
Essentially a biography of Captain William Henry O'Shea, this book explores his ill-fated relationship with Charles Stewart Parnell and how his failure to secure advancement in his political career and a sequence of business failures resulted in his taking the divorce case against his wife, Katharine, and Parnell. Although no attempt is made to suggest that O'Shea is a sympathetic character, he is portrayed as a more intelligent and complex personality than the stereotypical buffoon and cuckold presented in most historical narratives. While he was a Whig, a place-seeker, a fantasist and suffered from over-weening vanity, he is also representative of a political elite which vanished in the 1880's just as the men who replaced them would disappear in 1918.In addition, almost in spite of himself, he performed some useful services during his sojourn in the House of Commons (1880-86) and, prefigured the clientilist politics of the Irish Free State with his constituency work in Clare in the early to mid 1880's. Through his bizarre association with members of the Fenian movement he, ironically, anticipated the move in the same direction made by Parnell after he lost the leadership of the Irish party.
William Orpen: An Onlooker in France by Robert Upstone and Angela Weight
Hardback; 40 Euro / 50 USD / 30 UK; 232 pages, with full colour illustrations throughout [Add To Basket]
"...a memorable and beautiful reminder of the outstanding abilities of this truly great Irish artist" Bruce Arnold, Irish Independent
The best known of the Official War Artists sent to France, Orpen was the only one to publish an extensive memoir of his experiences and observations. He was a talented writer, and his accounts of the last two years of the Great War and the Peace Conference that followed it are vivid, lucid and shrewd. The book ends with a passionate indictment of politicians and their mismanagement of the War, and the rapidity with which the ordinary soldier was forgotten. This compelling book was first published in 1921. This new edition contains a critical essay by Robert Upstone that assesses Orpen’s career as a War Artist and the pivotal impact the war had upon him. It investigates the major controversies that marked this period of his life and is set against the wider ambiguity of Irish soldiers supporting the British war effort, while at home in 1916 the Irish Republican Brotherhood proclaimed an independent Ireland. Orpen’s portraits of generals, politicians, ordinary soldiers and airmen and evocative battlefield landscapes and bitter allegories on the waste of life and futility of war accompany the text. Also included is a catalogue of the Imperial War Museum’s definitive collection of Orpen’s war paintings and drawings.
Ireland’s Misfortune: The Turbulent Life of Kitty O’Shea by Elisabeth Kehoe
Paperback; 14 Euro / 18 USD / 11 UK; 584 pages
As dramatic as a good novel, this is the first intimate biography of Katie 'Kitty' O'Shea, the woman whose scandalous love affair with the Irish nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell altered the course of Irish history.At the end of the nineteenth century, Charles Stewart Parnell, MP, was the only man who both the English government and Irish radicals believed could secure Home Rule for Ireland. But when Parnell met and fell in love with Katie O'Shea, a married woman, Parnell's life - and Ireland's history - would change for ever. When Parnell was named as co-respondent in Katie's divorce and revealed as the father of three of Katie's children their affair triggered the most notorious scandal of the Victorian era.Elisabeth Kehoe's vivid biography introduces us to a woman entirely unrecognisable as the home-wrecker and historical catastrophe of subsequent myth. From this book emerges, for the first time, the real Katie O'Shea: a gifted woman who influenced political policy with an acuity and sensitivity sorely lacking in her lover.
Michael Logue and the Catholic Church of Ireland by John Privilege
Hardback; 65 Euro / 85 USD / 55 UK; 220 pages [Add To Basket]
This book provides a review and consideration of the role of the Catholic Church in Ireland in the intense political and social changes after 1879 through a major figure in Irish history, Michael Logue. Despite being a figure of pivotal historical importance in Ireland, no substantial study of Michael Logue (1840-1924) has previously been undertaken. Through the medium of Logue, Privilege examines the role of the Catholic Church in the intense political and social changes in Ireland after 1879. Exploring previously under-researched areas, like the clash between science and faith, university education and state-building, the book significantly contributes to our understanding of the relationship between the Church and the state in modern Ireland. This book also sets out to redress any historical misunderstanding of Michael Logue and provides a fresh perspective on existing interpretations of the role of the Church and on areas of historical debate in this period.
Governor: Inside the Maze by William McKee
Paperback; 13 Euro / 18 USD / 11 UK; 210 pages [Add To Basket]
Billy Wright's death was the start of William McKee's descent into life changing circumstances, that would ultimately lead to the loss of his home, health, career, family and on a number of occasions almost his life, both through murder attempts and finally thoughts of suicide. William tells his story with rare honesty and skill. This is an eye-opening account of what life is really like inside Northern Ireland's prisons. This is a no-holds-barred account of life as a prison governor.
Debt Busters: Managing Your Money Through the Recession by Eddie Hobbs
Paperback; 13 Euro / 18 USD / 11 UK; 180 pages [Add To Basket]
Since the publication in 2005 of Short Hands, Long Pockets, Eddie Hobbs's bestselling guide to personal finance, the global and personal financial climate has changed almost beyond recognition and the cold winds of unmanageable debt, negative equity and redundancy now blow through many homes. Debt Busters is Eddie s timely response to the recession. In this book he explains clearly and practically how to manage your spending and the money you owe even if you feel overwhelmed by your level of indebtedness and come out the other side in leaner and fitter financial shape. Topics covered include: the big economic shift: how Ireland and the world went from easy credit to credit crunch how to manage your money and your debts through the recession how to take on the banking system with an insider s skill when you re in distressed debt and unable to meet repayments how the Irish legal system deals with distressed debt the best tactics for coping practically and psychologically with the stress caused by unemployment and reduced financial circumstances money-saving tips to beat the recession where you can go for help.
Damnyakee: A WWII Story of Tragedy and Survival off the West of Ireland by Thomas L. Walsh
Large Format Paperback; 15 Euro / 18 USD / 11 UK; 166 pages [Add To Basket]
Damnyankee is the compelling story of a World War II U.S. Navy submarine patrol bomber which ditched off the west coast of Ireland in 1944 in a seething North Atlantic storm.
Four decades later an American arrived in Clifden, County Galway, claiming to have been a crew member on that aircraft lost at sea, and striving to somehow reconstruct this tragedy. With the help of a sergeant in the Garda, an Irish schoolboy, and an aging Irish maiden lady, the former bow gunner was able to reconstruct the incident. In the process, he found a way to honor those who lost their lives in the storm-lashed sea that tragic night.
The author's familiarity with Ireland and all things Irish adds additional perspective to the book. From a beginning in Norfolk, Virginia to a partial salvation at the tiny village of Ailleabreach along the Galway coast, this book has something for both WWII aviation buffs as well as those hopelessly in love with the West of Ireland.
I Never Knew That About the Irish by Christopher Winn
Small Hardback; 12 Euro / 16 USD / 10 UK; 320 pages [Add To Basket]
In this charming book bestselling author Christopher Winn turns his attention to the Irish people, taking us on a enthralling journey around their homeland, discovering en route the intriguing and surprising ways the places and their history contribute to the Irish character. As he travels across the Emerald Isle, he unearths the traditions, triumphs and disasters, foibles, quirks and customs that come together to make up the Irish people. From County Leitrim, the most sparsely populated county in the Republic of Ireland to County Louth, Ireland's smallest county, discover the site of the first play performed in the Irish language, sail the longest navigable inland waterway in Europe and watch the horse racing at Ireland's first all-weather racecourse. Illustrated throughout with enchanting pen and ink drawings and packed with entertaining stories and astonishing facts "I Never Knew That About the Irish" will entertain the whole family for hours on end.
Feckin Book of Irish History by Colm Murphy and Donal O’Shea
Small Hardback; 13 Euro / 18 USD / 10 UK; 250 pages [Add To Basket]
Invasions, Emergencies, one Big Rising, all sorts of Troubles; the Siege of Limerick (continuing), Paddy of the Snakes, Niall of the Nine Hostages, The Big Fella, The Long Fella, Aer Lingus and the Flight of the Earls, Daniel O’Connell, Wolfe Tone and other singers, Gun-running at Howth, Wind-surfing at Lahinch; the IRB, the IRA, the EEC, the GAA, the Celtic Tiger, RIP.
Irish Wit: From Behan and Wilde to Yer Man in the Pub by Sean McCann
Small Hardback; 10 Euro / 13 USD / 8.50 UK; 160 pages [Add To Basket]
Irish wit is an art form, centuries old yet up-to-the-minute wise, insulting, obscure, profound and idiotic. For years the Irish have mixed wit with wisdom, as they have porter and whiskey, and to the same intoxicating effect!
In this book, Sean McCann has succeeded in distilling the essence of Irish wit - on love, religion, the 'hard stuff', the English, with a generous mix from Behan, Yeats, Swift, Moore, O'Casey, but above all from 'yer man', the leading authority on everything that grows, breeds, thinks or computes in the land.
The Best of Irish: A Celebration of Incredible Ireland by Hannah Mulholland
Small Hardback; 5 Euro / 7 USD / 4 UK; 96 pages [Add To Basket]
This is a charming gift book that celebrates everything that's wonderful about the green isle. Ranging from geographical wonders to cultural symbols, literary genius to enduring monuments, there is something for everyone. Also featuring mini-biographies of great Irish men and women, entertaining quotations and fascinating facts, "Best of Irish" is a lovely book championing the achievements, quirks and cultural wealth of Ireland. This title includes: mini-biographies of Oscar Wilde, Robert Boyle, James Joyce and Bono; tales of leprechauns and shamrock; the Giants Causeway; the Battle of the Boyne; and, the history of Guinness and St Patrick's Day.
Please note: Prices were correct at time of original posting but are subject to subsequent change without notice.
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