Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 462
31 October / 1 November 2009
Romantic Irish Houses by Robert O’Byrne with photographs by Simon Brown
Large Format Hardback; 30 Euro / 38 USD / 20 UK; 176 pages, with full colour photographs throughout
Irish houses have a character and personality quite different from that found anywhere else. Quixotic, often whimsical, and definitely quirky, they provide a sanctuary from the Irish climate, which is frequently grey, cold, and damp. No wonder, therefore, that over the centuries Ireland's domestic architecture and interior design has developed a distinctive personality in which colour and vivacity are highly prized. Romantic Irish Homes presents 15 of the finest examples of these traits, each one of them distinctive and yet sharing the same native spirit.
From vast ancient castles through sturdy Georgian manors to small farmhouses, the majority of them never previously photographed, the homes featured here offer a unique insight into the Irish temperament and an exploration of a style of decoration that, while adapted to meet 21st-century demands, still retains an historic integrity. Photographed by Simon Brown, Romantic Irish Homes is every bit as charming and memorable as the Irish people themselves.
Showtime: The Inside Story of Fianna Fail in Power by Pat Leahy
Large Format Paperback; 16 Euro / 24 USD / 10 UK; 360 pages [Add To Basket]
In boom and in bust, Ireland has been led by Fianna Fáil. Showtime gets behind the party’s remarkable dominance of the political landscape and leading political writer Pat Leahy, tells the gripping story of how it won, kept and has used power since the mid-1990s. Showtime explains how Fianna Fáil operated during the boom years – from November 1994, when Bertie Ahern assumed leadership of a battered party, expecting to become Taoiseach but instead finding himself cast into opposition, to the day he relinquished the party leadership on the brink of the bust. For a decade after it achieved power in 1997, Fianna Fáil led the government during an unprecedented economic boom and enjoyed riches beyond the wildest dreams of any previous administration. Showtime reveals how government really worked in these years: the favours, the grudges, the backroom deals, the political strokes, the policy compromises and the choices that have led the country to where it is today. Showtime is politics in the raw: the exciting, enlightening and sometimes disturbing story of a remarkable era that changed the face of modern Ireland.
Crime Ink: Interviews with Notorious Criminals and Other Notes from the Irish Underground by Jason O’Toole
Large Format Paperback; 13 Euro / 18 USD / 10 UK; 352 pages, with two 8-page black-and-white photo inserts
Crime Ink includes controversial interviews with renowned drug trafficker John Gilligan and bank robber and alleged hit man Dutchy Holland. Alan “Fat Puss” Bradley talks openly about the murder of John Daly and his dealings with the Criminal Assets Bureau. Also, Ireland’s longest serving killer Paddy McCann, and major Republican figures John Noonan and Gerry Kelly speak candidly for the first time. O’Toole’s journey into the criminal underworld brings him to Spain’s “Costa Del Crime”, where he meets with the Irish drug dealers living the high life. In an interview with rapper and ex-drug dealer Nailerz he paints a chilling picture of life on the Moyross estate in Limerick. There is a memorable interview with lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano, dubbed “The Devil’s Advocate” for his defence of Slobodan Milosevic, Saddam Hussein and a cast of Irish criminals. O’Toole also speaks to the victims of Irish crime and drug culture, conducting the first ever interview with Kieron “Wolf”Ducie, who describes in detail the tragic events that led to the death of Katy French. Crime Ink is a compelling insight into the underbelly of Irish society.
Living With Murder: Families Left Behind by Yvonne Kinsella
Large Format Paperback; 13 Euro / 18 USD / 10 UK; [Add To Basket]
Living with Murder also provides readers with an in-depth analysis of murder from a Forensic Psychology perspective. Where does the urge to kill come from? Is it genetic, hormonal, biological, or cultural conditioning? Do killers, rapists, kidnappers and predators have any control over their desires? What sets them apart? The author has spoken to the families of: * Anthony Campbell - an innocent plumber who was killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. * Donna Cleary, a mother of one, killed by a gang refused entry to a house party. * Edward Ward, an innocent victim of a gangland hit on Brian Downes. * Jeffrey Hannan, killed with a blunt weapon in Limerick, seemingly without motive. * Emer O'Loughlin, burned to death in a caravan in Co Clare * Sheola Keeney, strangled by her boyfriend * Adrian Dunne, who killed his family and himself in Wexford. * Brian Stack, the only prison officer ever assassinated in the Republic of Ireland.
Mother From Hell: Two Brothers, A Sadistic Mother, A Childhood Destroyed by Ken and Patrick Doyle
Paperback; 12 Euro / 17 USD / 9 UK; 220 pages [Add To Basket]
Kenneth and Patrick Doyle grew up in a family of nine children in Tullamore, Co. Offaly. Though the home was dysfunctional and all the children suffered at the hands of their parents, Kenneth and Patrick were singled out for horrific abuse at the hands of their mother. Starved, beaten and sent out to steal, their story is a catalogue of abuse. It also implicates the authorities, who had pages upon pages of reports on their situation, and yet never stepped in.
Irish Apartheid: Healthcare Inequality in Ireland by Sara Burke
Large Format Paperback; 19 Euro / 26 USD / 14 UK; 352 pages [Add To Basket]
Health services are top of the public and political agenda; they dominate media coverage, incite passion and protests, enable or prevent people from living longer, healthier lives. Yet much of the rhetoric and discussion is confused, much of the spin inaccurate. Most people are unable to understand why the Irish health system is the way it is. This book intends to demystify and explain health services in Ireland. It will provide an understanding of our byzantine, unequal, dysfunctional system, beyond the political rhetoric and media hysteria. It will expose the apartheid that characterises healthcare in Ireland. This book is written for anybody who has struggled to understand and gain access to health services, anyone who has sat in a queue in A&E, or who has watched a loved one die in a public ward without dignity. It is also required reading for policymakers, politicians and health professionals.
Sean Keating in Context: Responses to Culture and Politics in Post-Civil-War Ireland by Eimear O’Connor
Large Format Paperback; 25 Euro / 32 USD / 18 UK; 182 pages [Add To Basket]
Irish artist Seán Keating (1889-1977) was a controversial and provocative figure in the quest for national identity in the early years of the twentieth century. He was a member and former President of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Art, and his professional life spanned seventy years during, which time he was renowned at home and abroad for his ability to paint forceful images that were at once emblematic of his own cultural and political nationalism and analogous to that of the nation at large. Keating was a keen cultural commentator with a wry view of contemporary developments, evidenced in his work as an artist. When afforded the opportunity, Keating published and broadcast his challenging thoughts on a series of subjects including bad art criticism, snobbery in art, the consequences of governmental lack of support for the arts, and the negative aspects of consumerism and greed. Although Keating's paintings survive, his stimulating contribution to the discourse on the development of Irish culture through articles and broadcasts has been, to date, forgotten. Seán Keating in Context: Responses to Culture and Politics in Post-Civil War Ireland offers, for the first time, a comprehensive compilation and contextual analysis of Keating's articles and broadcasts between 1924 and 1972. The book examines Keating's thoughts on culture, politics, economics and several other issues in the context of his both his artistic output and the social conditions of the time. In doing so, the narrative serves to better describe the extent of Keating's contribution to Irish art and to public life. Moreover, given the present economic conditions in Ireland and further afield, the content of Keating's articles and broadcasts is prophetical and poignant. Thus the book offers a new perspective on the life and work of Seán Keating which should appeal to students, collectors, art historians and gallery owners alike.
Notes from the Margins: A Decade of Irish Life by Fergus Finlay
Large Format Paperback; 16 Euro / 23 USD / 11 UK; 360 pages
Large Format Paperback with 8 page full colour photo insert; 12 Euro / 16 USD / 10 UK; 300 pages [Add To Basket]
‘Many years of experience in politics, and nowadays in trying to help people to make lasting changes in their lives and the lives of their children, have taught me how hard people have to struggle when there is no one to listen to their story. In a country where powerful vested interests have a disproportionate role in the making of public policy, people without a voice are much more likely to live on the margins . . .’
Throughout his life, Fergus Finlay has been a voice for people and groups who live on the edges of society. In over a decade of newspaper writings and radio columns, he has examined social inequity in Ireland in its many forms, never more passionately than when making arguing for the improved rights of children and struggling families. Always, he makes his case with keen insight, cogent argument and unfailing passion, as he casts a critical eye on the policy makers and powers that be who create a status quo which, in good times and bad, favours the ‘haves’ above the ‘have nots’. Notes from the Margin is more than a selection of columns, it is a fascinating picture of a society that has undergone enormous change in a decade – and an imploring case for creating a future which avoids the pitfalls of accumulation as an end onto itself, and focuses on what truly matter – the equal rights of all citizens. ‘I’ve tried as hard as I can to use the platform I have to represent some kind of a voice for people who won’t otherwise have any way to make their case.’
Towards Inclusion: Protestants and the Irish Language by Ian Malcolm
Large Format Paperback; 14 Euro / 18 USD / 10 UK; 276 pages [Add To Basket]
In Northern Ireland the Irish language has the power to enrage and enthral. For some, Irish is the expression of a cherished culture, but its close association with nationalism and republicanism means that Protestants and unionists rarely see it in a positive light. History reveals that this was not always the case. For centuries, Protestants engaged with Irish on their own terms, sometimes for academic reasons but often because it was their everyday language and an integral part of their lives. 'Towards Inclusion' considers these fascinating historical perspectives, as well as covering the role of the Irish language in Northern Ireland's more recent past. But the main body of the book is based on Malcolm's extensive and detailed research into the attitudes of young Protestants towards the Irish language, carried out through questionnaires and focus groups. Some of the students had attended a Gael-Linn language enrichment course, but the rest had little or no exposure to Irish. The results of this research are both striking and surprising, and will provoke fresh debate on the role of the Irish language in Northern Ireland today. In the twenty-first century can Irish become the intellectual property of all, regardless of political stance or religion?
Back in Steam: The Downpatrick and County Down Railway from 1982 by Gerry Cochrane
Large Format Paperback; 20 Euro / 28 USD / 15 UK; 128 pages, with full colour and black-and-white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
This is a book about a dream - a dream that started with one man in 1982. Between these covers, Gerry Cochrane describes how his idea of restoring the railways in the Downpatrick area was gradually turned into reality, with the hard work of the many volunteers who, over the years, caught the vision and, with the backing of Down District Council, now operate one of Downpatrick’s major tourist attractions.
It is a story of perseverance in the face of adversity, of disappointments and successes and, for the first time, it is detailed here and illustrated with over 130 pictures.
Archaeological Excavations at Rosepark, Balrothery, Co Dublin vol.1 by Judith Carroll
Large Format Paperback; 40 Euro / 50 USD / 30 UK; [Add To Basket]
The excavation at Rosepark was centered on a complex of ditches discovered by aerial photography. The findings, which are divided into 5 phases, revealed a hilltop enclosure comprising a large number of ditches, burnt features, cereal-drying kilns, souterrains, structures and an entranceway to the complex.
Archaeological Excavations at Glebe South and Darcystown, Balrothery, Co Dublin vol.2 by Judith Carroll, Frank Ryan and Kenneth Wiggins
Large Format Paperback; 40 Euro / 50 USD / 30 UK; [Add To Basket]
These excavations took place between 2000 and 2005 and included important prehistoric burial sites. The burials show continuity of prehistoric burial from the early Bronze Age, but the main concentrations of burial are dated to the Late Broze Age into the Iron Age and early medieval periods.
How to Trace Your Irish Ancestors by Ian Maxwell
Large Format Paperback; 15 Euro / 19 USD / 12 UK; 200 pages [Add To Basket]
This book highlights some of the important documentary evidence available to the family historians researching Irish ancestry. This title offers researchers what is available locally and online.
Other Reviews: 'This clearly laid out book is a useful guide for anyone researching and documenting the family histories of Ireland's people.' --Family Tree Magazine 'Offers remarkably detailed and wide ranging information to the sources and where they may be found.' Ancestors. 'Our firm favourite, this book is accurately hailed as an essential guide to Irish research. Splendid book. Aimed at beginners as well as more experienced enthusiasts, it serves both group admirably. Lucid and practical and it contains a valuable list of up-to-date websites. --Family History Monthly 'A reliable and straightforward guide to researching Irish family history, with a factual focus and no waffle.' --Your Family Tree
Please note: Prices were correct at time of original posting but are subject to subsequent change without notice.
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