Read Ireland Book Review
'Best' Non-Fiction of 2004
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.
The Last of the Celts by Marcus Tanner
Hardback; 37.00 Euro / 45.00 USD / 25.00 UK; 390 pages [Add To Basket]
A cultural tour spanning the Celtic world from the Outer Hebrides of Scotland to Brittany, and from Cape Breton to Patagonia, this book sets out to find out what has happened to the Celtic peoples in a world where pressure to conform to Anglo-American culture has grown ever stronger. Taking the form of a journey that starts in the wilds of north-west Scotland, before proceeding through western Wales, the Isle of Man, troubled Northern Ireland, the western seaboard of the Irish Republic and The French region of Brittany, the author weaves solid historical research into the language, religion, music and customs of the peoples concerned with first-hand encounters with a host of priests, ministers, government officials, cultural activists, musicians and writers. The author finds talk of a Celtic revival much misplaced, for while the term "Celtic" is banded around as never more, largely to suit the needs of commerce and tourism, the fragile cultures the word actually refers to in the north-west of Britain, Ireland and France are closer than ever before to extinction. As the author discovers on his journey, the tide is going out at different speeds in different places. While Welsh culture and language are (relatively) robust, the rich culture of the Bretons is heading for almost certain oblivion in a decade or two at most, as relentless, centuries-long pressure to "be French" reaches its climax. Nor are the prospects much brighter for the small Celtic communities in the New World. As the author travels from Cape Breton in Canada to Patagonia in Argentina, he finds the once sturdy communities of Gaelic and Welsh speakers facing exactly the same threats of assimilation and ultimate disappearance. It is a development that impoverishes as all.
Himself Alone: David Trimble and the Ordeal of Unionism by Dean Godson
Hardback; 45.00 Euro / 55.00 USD / 35.00 UK; 1002 pages, with 3 8-page photo inserts
David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, is one of the unlikeliest and most complicated political leaders of our times. Long reviled by nationalist Ireland and much of British opinion as an awkward and flinty loyalist extremist, both his admirers and detractors agree that the Belfast Agreement could not have been made without him. This taciturn ex-Queen’s University law lecturer and lover of opera has become the first Unionist leader to enjoy international recognition, being praised by the Nobel Peace Prize committee for his ‘great political courage’ and regularly visiting the White House. But in the process, he has been excoriated as a traitor by many of his one-time supporters.
In this comprehensive biography, the author has been given unique access to the politician and his papers. In addition to conducting over one hundred hours of interviews with Trimble and his wife, the author has spoken to over three hundred friends, foes and colleagues of the unionist leader – including Tony Blair, Bertie Ahern, Mo Mowlam, Peter Mandelson, John Hume, John Major, John Bruton and Gerry Adams. He has also enjoyed privileged access to the private papers and diaries of other leading politicians in Ulster, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. The author also reveals Trimble’s dependence on an extraordinary ‘kitchen cabinet’ of informal advisers, composed largely of southern Irish Catholics, including the ex-senior IRA member, Sean O'Callaghan. Rarely can any practicing politician have spoken so candidly to any biographer.
This book is a remarkable study of a man and his times, and an illuminating record of the political dynamics of the Troubles and the complexity of the calculations which all leaders locked in such disputes much make.
Sean O’Casey: A biography by Christopher Murray
Hardback; 30.00 Euro / 35.00 USD / 24.00 UK; 350 pages [Add To Basket]
Christopher Murray's work on Sean O'Casey is a critical biography. In addition to the normal biographical elements, Dr Murray provides a strong interpretative context for the life. For example, he looks afresh at the Dublin of the 1880s and 1890s in order to provide an updated background to O'Casey's childhood. He pays a great deal of attention to the political situation from 1880 to 1922, setting it against O'Casey's own treatment in his six volumes of autobiography. In general he attempts to establish "O'Casey's Ireland". This leads naturally to a fresh examination of the great Dublin trilogy, The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock and The Plough and the Stars, the three works on which O'Casey's reputation stands. The rejection of his next play, The Silver Tassie, by the Abbey Theatre precipitated O'Casey's move to England. Except for some very brief visits, he never returned to Ireland. Murray establishes O'Casey as a self-made man of letters, an irrepressible fighter, a man who combined political courage and innocence, an individual torn between a humanist vision of life rooted in his Dublin childhood and a utopian but blinkered loyalty to the Soviet Union. Murray acknowledges that while much of O'Casey's work was uneven, flawed and over-ambitious, at its best it was infused with a passion and generosity that place it among the best bodies of drama in the twentieth century. Christopher Murray's biography will be the definitive work on O'Casey in our time. Rich and original material, including unique access to the O'Casey papers in the archives of his publishers, it is a book that will stand for many years.
‘Tis Herself: A Memoir by Maureen O’Hara
Hardback; 25.00 Euro / 20.00 USD / 18.00 UK; 322 pages
Famous for her remarkable beauty and her fiery screen personality, Irish-born Maureen O’Hara left Dublin as a teenager and became one of the greatest and most enduring stars of Hollywood’s ‘Golden Era’. Written with warmth, charm and intelligence that defined her performances in some sixty films, this autobiography is her story as only she could tell it, a tale of a strong-willed Irishwoman who truly held her own in the world.
Making the Grand Figure: Lives and Possessions in Ireland, 1641-1770 by Toby Barnard
Hardback; 50.00 Euro / 60.00 USD / 40.00 UK; 500 pages, illustrations [Add To Basket]
In this pioneering study of the material culture of Stuart and Hanoverian Ireland, the author reveals a hitherto unsuspected richness and diversity of lifestyle, habitat and mentality. The book abounds with quirky people and vivid scenes, and amounts to a striking reappraisal of Ireland under the Protestant Ascendancy. The compass of the book is impressively wide, from the governing elits of Dublin Castle to the varied metropolis of Dublin itself, and to provincial towns and the countryside beyond. Looking yet further, it follows the Irish overseas to Britain and to the continent of Europe. What emerges is a world more crowded with stylish buildings, gardens, pictures and belongings than has often been imagined.
Through such everyday articles as linen shirts, wigs, silver teaspoons, pottery plates and engravings, the author evokes a striking variety of lives and attitudes. Possessions, he shows, even horses and dogs, highlighted and widened divisions, not only between rich and poor, women and men, but also between Irish Catholics and the Protestant settlers. Displaying fresh evidence and unexpected perspectives, the book throws important new light on Ireland during a formative period. Its discoveries, set within the context of the ‘consumer revolution’’ gripping Europe and North America, allow Ireland for the first time to be integrated into discussions of the pleasures and pains of consumerism.
Byrne’s Dictionary of Irish Local History by Joseph Byrne
Paperback; 20.00 Euro / 24.00 USD / 15.00 UK; 350 pages. [Add To Basket]
This book is the authoritative desk reference for all local historians. It contains hundreds of local history terms explained, from earliest times to c.1900, in an A-Z listing which is fully cross-referenced. What was an angel? Castle chamber? Raskins? A Cunningham acre? Letters patent? Where do you go to find out what a Brunswick club was? How do you find out the meanings of legal terms associated with the courts and land conveyancing? This dictionary attempts to answer such questions for the Irish local historian. Also included are numerous entries relating to national and regional institutions such as parliament and the courts, administrative structures, religion, education, historical records, land law, lay associations, political movement, architecture and archaeology.
Oxford Companion to Irish History edited by SJ Connolly
Large Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 32.00 USD / 18.00 UK; 650 pages [Add To Basket]
The editor, with a team of 96 renowned experts, has updated and revised the text for this second edition. With its initial appearance in 1998, this book set a benchmark among reference works on Irish history and was designated the 'definitive guide to over 2,000 years of Irish history'. This new edition takes into account recent research and events. There is coverage not only of leading political figures, organizations, and events, but also of subjects such as dress, music, sport and diet. Traditional topics such as the Rebellion of 1798 and the Irish Civil War sit alongside entries on newly developing areas such as women's history and popular culture. The coverage has been expanded to offer a full treatment of prehistoric and early historic Ireland and more comprehensive information on literary history. There are also new entries on individuals who have died since the first edition was published. In addition, the sections dealing with the politics in the Irish Republic and in Northern Ireland have been rewritten to take full account of the developments up to the end of the 20th century. With over 1,8000 entries, this book offers a comprehensive guide to all aspects of the Irish past from earliest times to the present day.
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 Thin Green Line: The History of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC by Richard Doherty
Hardback; 38.00 Euro / 47.50 USD / 25.00 UK; 310 pages, with photo insert [Add To Basket]
Formed out of the Royal Irish Constabulary at the time of Partition, the RUC's history is predictably a turbulent one right through to its replacement in 2001 by the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Few police forces in the world have suffered so grievously as the RUC and this book is a fitting memorial to the sacrifices made in the interests of the civil population it was determined to protect. Throughout its history, it has not only had to perform normal police duties but contain the ever present IRA threat. In 1969, the climate changed and ushered in a new and even more violent era of sectarian strife. The emergence of extreme nationalist organisations posed grave problems and, with the RUC in a prime role, the position of the Chief Constable was hugely important. This book tells the story of a remarkable police force without fear or favour. Ironically its reward for containing a hugely challenging internal security situation and at the same time policing the community traditionally was its disbandment.
The Irish Times Book of the Year 2004 edited by Peter Murnagh
Hardback; 28.50 Euro / 34.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 256 pages [Add To Basket]
The Irish Times Book of the Year 2004 will be the fifth edition of this successful Christmas gift book. All the best stories from the period September 2003 - September 2004 are presented in book form and accompanied by stunning colour photography. Drawing on the unrivalled resources of The Irish Times, it features the very finest writing from Ireland's finest newspaper. It was a year in which it was goodbye Peter Mandelson, John Bruton and Ned O'Keeffe and hello George W. Bush (with some help from family and friends), BBBB and CCCC. Liam Lawlor went to jail. Read Tom Humphries, Medb Ruane and Conor O'Clery and the other outstanding writers from the Irish Times as they pull together the year that is passing. The Irish Times Book of the Year is the perfect Christmas gift book for all those who wish to recall the highlights of the past twelve months as recorded in Ireland's leading quality newspaper.
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