Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 466
16/17 January 2010
After the Irish: An Anthology of Poetic Translation edited by Gregory A. Schirmer
Hardback; 85 Euro / 130 USD / 70 UK; 480 pages
This anthology demonstrates that verse translation from the Irish represents, in its own right, a significant part of the tradition of Irish poetry written in English. Rather than offering the usual view of verse translation as a means of preserving and providing access to poetry written in Irish. This anthology foregrounds the aesthetic and cultural value of verse translation as poetry. The anthology is historical in form, beginning with a translation done in 1635, and concluding with the work of contemporary poets. The translations are grouped by individual translators, and arranged into five sections: Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Nineteenth Century, Irish Literary Revival, Modern Ireland and Contemporary Ireland. Each translator is introduced with a head note and each translation is fully annotated and accompanied by the original text in Irish and a literal translation of it into English. This anthology includes a critical introduction which offers a concise but remarkably wide-ranging account of Irish poetry over the past three centuries, drawing attention to the relevant cultural and political circumstances from which it was wrought, with colonial and postcolonial issues particularly in mind. While at the same time the introduction gives careful and illuminating consideration to verse forms and other technical concerns. There is a strong sense of persistent cultural endeavour that gives coherence to a large group of writers and translators from diverse social, religious and political backgrounds. This anthology provides a great service to scholars working in the field of modern Irish literature by bringing together some of the well-known works of seminal poets and translators such as James Clarence Mangan and Samuel Ferguson together with literal translations of the originals on which their writings were based. In this respect, the anthology opens up a vivid and revealing perspective, allowing readers a privileged insight into the creative methods of some of Ireland's leading authors and cultural architects. A comprehensive bibliography of primary sources concludes this book.
Albert Reynolds: My Autobiography
Hardback; 21 Euro / 30 USD / 15 UK; 480 pages, with two 8-page full-colour photo inserts [Add To Basket]
'I was a businessman, a risk taker' - Albert Reynolds. 'Albert was a trader and Albert was a dealer - he was a bottom-line man' - John Major. Albert Reynolds has led an extraordinary life. Now, for the first time, Ireland's eighth Taoiseach tells his life story - from his childhood and first steps as a young businessman to his action-filled years in the political arena. Bringing lessons learned in business to his ten years as a government minister, he continued his style of direct dealing in the office of Taoiseach, tackling his key objectives on the Irish economy and the search for peace in Northern Ireland. In this revelatory autobiography, Albert tells how his dynamic, can-do approach and his consistent ability to make the most of an opportunity allowed a boy from the village of Roosky, Co. Roscommon, to build a ballroom empire with his brother Jim, to found a multi-million-pound company and to make a profound and lasting contribution to Irish politics. Albert relives a busy political life - from high achievements such as the Downing Street Declaration, negotiating the first IRA ceasefire and laying the foundations for an improved economy, to lows like the collapse of the Fianna Fail--Labour coalitions and the disappointment of his presidential bid. The Northern Ireland peace process is thrown into dramatic relief with original contributions from other voices such as John Major, Bill Clinton, Martin McGuinness and Archbishop Eames and eye-opening revelations about secret, behind-the-scenes meetings with key players. 'Give it as it was; tell it as it is, that is me.' In his autobiography, he does just that.
I’ll Tell Me Ma: A Childhood Memoir by Brian Keenan
Hardback; 20 Euro / 28 USD / 14 UK; 310 pages
Local rather than international, the dramas and privations described in this memoir are not the stuff of headlines. This is the story of an ordinary boy growing up in Belfast after the war; an ordinary boy who would go on to become world-famous as a hostage in Beirut and author of the extraordinary testimony of imprisonment and survival that was "An Evil Cradling". In this remarkable and equally moving act of retrieval, Brian Keenan has captured the vanished world of 1950s Belfast in all its vivid vernacular and grey, post-war austerity. This is a time of licorice and Airfix models, pigeon-fanciers, street vendors selling coal and bleach and herring, street-fighters with lions on chains - a city where westerns were showing every afternoon at the Picture Theatre, where livestock was still herded onto the docks and the shipyards flourished. It was also a place of ghosts: the plague dead in the cemeteries, the family dead in the scrapbooks, a witch's box discovered under the stairs, the giant street bonfires every 12th of July to commemorate the Battle of the Boyne. By the end of the book, after his father's death and his mother's Alzheimer's, Belfast itself becomes a ghost city to Brian Keenan, the boy who leaves to become a man. Rich in detail and atmosphere, "I'll Tell Me Ma" is an affectionate story of a disaffected childhood. At the centre is a shy, self-conscious boy of unusual moral integrity; a boy puzzled by religion and sectarianism, in love with books and music and full of curiosity about the world outside. A book of reclamation, "I'll Tell Me Ma" is also a coming-to-terms with the past: a resounding, thrilling record of redemption.
Insider: Gerry Bradley’s Life in the IRA by Gerry Bradley with Brian Feeney
Large Format Paperback; 12 Euro / 18 USD / 9 UK; 275 pages, with an 8-page black-and-white photo insert [Add To Basket]
In this book Bradley speaks out for the first time - without permission from the IRA with new revelations about: the plot to assassinate Brian Faulkner; bloody Friday 1972; the informer, Peter Valente; the civil administration of the IRA; the IRA security squad; how IRA men travelled to Britain in containers; and, the attempt to kill Chief Supt Martindale. The IRA was Gerry Bradley's life. His sole interest was in 'ops' - carrying out on-the-ground war. Inspired, initially, to defend his home place against Loyalist threats, he became one of the most senior operators in Belfast IRA. When things turned political, there seemed to be no place for his kind of activism. This book presents the inside story by a senior IRA man.
The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party by Brian Hanley
Large Format Paperback; 22 Euro / 30 USD / 17 UK; 688 pages [Add To Basket]
Everybody knows about the Provisional IRA, which perpetrated the lion’s share of republican violence during the Troubles. But there was another IRA, the Official IRA: a republican-socialist paramilitary organization that played an underestimated part in the Troubles and was linked to a series of political parties which eventually achieved a striking influence in the south of Ireland while attempting to bring about an Irish socialist republic. In The Lost Revolution, Brian Hanley and Scott Millar tell the full story of this movement for the first time. Hanley and Millar trace the development of republican socialism through the civil rights movement, the outbreak of the Troubles and the IRA split. They show that the Official IRA continued to operate long after its 1972 cease-fire, and document the use of armed robbery and other forms of crime to fund the movement. And they chronicle the growth – in sophistication and popularity – of the Workers’ Party, which was a force to be reckoned with in the Dáil during the 1980s and (as Democratic Left) early 1990s. Although ultimately unsuccessful, the Official republican movement played a decisive role in the shaping of modern Ireland. A roll-call of influential personalities in the fields of politics, trade unionism and the media– including Eamon Gilmore, Eoghan Harris, Liz McManus and Des Geraghty – passed through its ranks. The story of contemporary Ireland is inseparable from the story of the Official republican movement, a story never before told.
Crown and Shamrock: Love and Hate Between Ireland and the British Monarchy by Mary Kenny
Large Format Paperback; 20 Euro / 28 USD / 14 UK; 392 pages [Add To Basket]
With a state visit by Queen Elizabeth II to the Irish Republic expected in 2009, the first royal visit since 1911, Mary Kenny traces the complex relationship between the Irish and the British Crown. Based on unique access to the Royal Archives in Windsor, and other historical material as well as on personal memoir, Mary Kenny reveals some previously unappreciated aspects of the Crown and Shamrock, including Edward VII's exceptionally benign attitudes to Catholics, George V's obsessive worries about civil war between North and South, and how Ireland was constitutionally altered (and morally riven) by the Abdication Crisis of 1936. The author of "Goodbye to Catholic Ireland", Mary Kenny also traces the parallel rise of 'Ireland's Alternative Monarchy', the Pope, and the ceremonial role of the Catholic church which all but replaced the ritual of discarded royalty. An engaging and refreshing study of Ireland's relationship with the British Crown, this is a timely and compelling book.
Jack Lynch: A Biography by Dermot Keogh
Large Paperback; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; 630 pages, with three 8-page black-and-white photo inserts [Add To Basket]
Jack Lynch is one of the most important and perhaps most underrated Irish political leaders of the twentieth century. A sportsman who won six All-Ireland medals in a row with Cork, he was also a civil servant and a barrister before being elected to Dail Eireann in 1948. During his thirty-one years as a parliamentarian, he held the ministries of Education, Industry and Commerce, and Finance before succeeding Sean Lemass as Taoiseach in 1966. Lynch held office during the critical years of the late 1960s and early 1970s when Northern Ireland disintegrated and civil unrest swept through Belfast, Derry and other towns. This precipitated one of the worst crises in the history of the Irish state. Lynch upheld the parliamentary democratic tradition at great personal and political cost, even to the point of fracturing the unity of his government and his party. If you want to know what happened during those terrible years, read this book. Praise for the hardback '...staggeringly impressive. A major addition to our knowledge of Lynch' Shane Coleman, The Sunday Tribune '...wide ranging and balanced assessment. It will remain the standard work on Jack Lynch and his period for a long time to come.' Irish Independent 'This book not only charts the highs and lows of Jack Lynch's entire tenure as Uachtaran Fhianna Fail, it also explores in detail Lynch's early years as well as his life after politics. Dermot Keogh is a historian of renown and accomplishment. He deploys his full range of talents in this impressive biography of a great Taoiseach.' The Irish Times
The Big House in the North of Ireland by Olwen Purdue
Large Format Paperback; 28 Euro / 40 USD / 20 UK; 300 pages with an 8-page black-and-white photo insert
Large Format Paperback with 8 page full colour photo insert; 12 Euro / 16 USD / 10 UK; 300 pages [Add To Basket]
"The Big House in the North of Ireland" explores the changing fortunes of the landed elite in the six counties that became Northern Ireland from the land war of the late 1870s to the last days of the Unionist government at Stormont in the 1960s. Purdue examines the social, economic and political challenges faced by the north's landed elite - tenant agitation, the break-up of their estates and the growing political challenge initially from Belfast's mercantile class and, eventually, from populist political movements - and determines the extent to which these undermined the foundations of their influence. She discusses the strategies adopted by the north's landed class to meet the challenges it faced and uncovers the reasons for the Big House clinging on as a social and political force in Northern Ireland long after it had ceased to hold any value in the rest of the island.
Fighting Like the Devil for the Sake of God: Protestants, Catholics and the Origins of Violence in Victorian Belfast by Mark Doyle
Large Format Paperback; 24 Euro / 30 USD / 19 UK; 296 pages [Add To Basket]
This fascinating book about Belfast in the middle of the nineteenth century looks at how and why Ireland's most prosperous and industrialized town began to tear itself apart. Through a series of steadily escalating riots, working-class Protestants and Catholics forged a tradition of violence that profoundly shaped their own identities and that of the city itself, setting the stage for the bitter conflicts of the next century. "Fighting Like the Devil for the Sake of God" describes that foundational moment. Eschewing traditional approaches that have searched for the ideological or structural causes of Belfast's violence, Mark Doyle looks instead at the social conditions that fueled communal polarization from year to year and generation to generation, asking not 'why did rioting happen?' But rather, 'why did rioting keep happening with such regularity?' The answers - which Doyle reveals through detailed reconstructions of specific riots and an innovative comparison with the relatively tranquil city of Glasgow - lie in the social networks that existed on both sides, in the profound alienation of both groups from the forces of the state, and in the circular power of violence to fuel future violence. By rooting Belfast's violence in the lives of its people, Doyle demonstrates that there was nothing natural or inevitable about this violence: though structured by the centuries-old conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland, Belfast's tradition of violence was a constructed tradition, the product of deliberate human action. Its story provides a vivid example of how a society can come apart at the seams.
The Rose of Tralee: Fifty Years A-Blooming by T. Ryle Dwyer
Large Format Paperback; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 11 UK; 130 pages, with full colour photos throughout [Add To Basket]
A wonderful, full-colour celebratory book to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the unique event that is The Rose of Tralee International Festival. The Rose selection reaches a television audience of millions, as well as attracting thousands of people to Tralee. T Ryle Dwer's lyrical text traces the history of the Rose and is packed full of fascinating detail on the events that accompany the Festival, from the donkey derbies and Tug-o-Wars of yesteryear, to the spectacular fireworks and street celebrations of today's Festival. Over 200 photographs will record the crowds, the supporters, the Rose parades, the personalities, with nostalgic shots of Festivals past. Everything is here: the Newbridge Silver crown, the dresses, the displays of talent - from slip jigs to humorous verse; the escorts, the comperes, the venues. There is a listing of every entrant for the past fifty years and the country/county she represented, as well as details and a picture of each of the winning Roses.
Dublin Zoo: An Illustrated History by Catherine De Courcy
Large Format Paperback; 20 Euro / 28 USD / 15 UK; 360 pages, with full colour photos throughout [Add To Basket]
To modern sensibilities zoos may seem unnatural places where animals lead miserable lives. But in better zoos animals wander in spaces resembling natural habitats. As Dublin Zoo makes the transition from bars and cages to state-of-the-art animal habitats it is appropriate to record its story so far, richly illustrated with images of animals and visitors. Beginning in 1831, stories of animals and visitors are interwoven to record magical moments as visitors experienced the smells, sounds, behaviours and magic of exotic animals. The mixed fortunes of the Zoo are traced as it survived the famine years, political trouble, economic hardship and public discomfort with wild animals kept in cages. Tales of elephants, chimpanzees, Pet s Corner, lions and flamingos are combined with memories of family outings, school trips, and social events in a celebratory history of the ah-Zoo in the Phoenix Park. A young Queen Victoria became patron in 1837 and visited in 1900; in 1903 an elephant crushed a man s head; Roger Casement donated numerous South American animals; Zoo parties and dances were fashionable in the 1950s and 60s; transformation into a modern zoo began with government support in 1987. Dublin Zoo s proud past is united with present and future direction as the extraordinary changes in recent years are described. Today, the Zoo s plays an important role in the international zoo community and in significant global conservation and education programs.
The Coast of Cork: A Fascinating Journey Along the Cork Coastline by Joleen Cronin
Large Format Hardback; 30 Euro / 38 USD / 20 UK; 270 pages, with full colour photos throughout [Add To Basket]
Produced by Cork’s The Evening Echo newspaper, The Coast of Cork book is a unique and beautiful collection of pictures taken along the most fascinating part of the Irish Coastline. The Cork Coastline is a rich and diverse coastline with sandy beaches, rugged cliffs, natural harbours and some of the most beautiful scenery in Ireland. Crosshaven photographer and sailor, Joleen Cronin, captures the coastline with her spectacular collection of photographs—taken from sea and land—of the coastline, its buildings and its people.
Cork Rock: From Rory Gallagher to the Sultans of Ping by Mark McAvoy
Large Format Paperback; 17 Euro / 23 USD / 12 UK; 260 pages, with an 16-page black-and-white photo insert [Add To Basket]
The history of the Rebel County's rock scene from the 1950's to the present. Music has always been an integral part of the Corkonian psyche. Even though musical styles have changed throughout Cork's history, generations of musicians and music lovers have continued to thrive by the banks of the Lee. In this absorbing new book Mark McAvoy opens the lid on the Cork Rock scene from the early days of Rory Gallagher right up to the present day and the emerging stars of the new century like Simple Kid and Fred. With a selection of exclusive photographs, access to the stars, the promoters and the managers, Cork Rock is an access-all-areas account of 60 years of Cork musical history.
Larry Cunningham: A Showband Legend by Tom Gilmore
Large Format Paperback; 17 Euro / 23 USD / 12 UK; 210 pages, with a CD of 4 of his greatest hits [Add To Basket]
A slice of nostalgia straight out of the 1960s swinging Showband scene, charting the long and varied career of one of Ireland’s most treasured and successful showband legends. La Larry was the first Irish-based artist – to make the UK Pop Charts; to play NY’s Carnegie Hall; to draw a record crowd of 6,850 to the Galtymore Ballroom, London.
Full & Plenty: Classic Irish Cooking by Maura Laverty
Small Gift Hardback; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 11 UK; 120 pages [Add To Basket]
This is a nostalgic reissue of the best of the classic text of Irish cookery. The original "Full & Plenty" was published as a single volume book in 1960. It was the definitive reference book in every Irish kitchen. In this newly formatted and redesigned hardback, Mercier Press now brings the best of these classic Irish recipes to a whole new audience. Including the best 150 classic Irish recipes with everything from wholemeal brown bread to lamb stew, "Full & Plenty: Classic Irish Recipes" is an excellent addition to the cookery book shelf of any kitchen.
Please note: Prices were correct at time of original posting but are subject to subsequent change without notice.
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