Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 385 - 28 July 2007
Irish History
Fighting for Dublin: The British Battle for Dublin, 1919-1921 by William Sheehan
Paperback; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; 166 pages
The British Army faced shoot-outs in cities, ambushes on rural roads. It was a typical twentieth-century conflict, as shown by the British account of the campaign in Dublin. To this is added an extract from the intelligence history of the campaign, brief biographies of key British commanders and officers killed on Bloody Sunday. Familiar names and events described include the arrest of Kevin Barry, the wounding of Dan Breen, the burning of the Custom House and arresting de Valera and Erskine Childers.
The Second World War and Irish Women: An Oral History by Mary Muldowney
Trade Paperback; 28 Euro / 36 USD / 18 UK; 230 pages [Add To Basket]
Based on interviews with over thirty Irish women, this book covers their experiences during the Second World War years and how the war impacted on them in terms of their public and private roles. Themes such as class and income, employment, health and housing are covered, arising from the women's recollections and international research into women and war. The women, from a variety of family and social backgrounds, mainly lived and worked in Belfast and Dublin between 1939 and 1945, but some of them went to Britain to take up war work. The women's own stories are compared with contemporary observations from a number of sources, including the Mass-Observation diary of Belfast woman, Moya Woodside. Other comparisons are made with newspaper commentaries and the files of government and other public bodies responsible for shaping social policy. The book shows that despite the many restrictions that the interviewees faced, in terms of access to education, employment opportunities and to equal treatment in a number of spheres, most of them overcame the obstacles in their way, some of which were considerable. Although the research demonstrated that in economic, political and social terms the war did not make any significant impact on Irish women, the evidence of the individuals who contributed their memories showed that it offered them opportunities to 'spread their wings', as one of the women described her activities. The book also compares the position of Irish women with their contemporaries in other western countries. While there has been a lot of research on the topic of women and war in other countries, no comparable work has yet been carried out here.
Framing the West: Images of Rural Ireland 1891-1920 edited by Ciara Breathnach with a foreword by Cormac O Grada
Oblong Paperback; 28 Euro / 42 USD / 21 UK; 266 pages, with black-and-white photographs throughout
This thematic book, based on Irish photographs 1891-1920, focuses on the importance of visual resources to scholars of Ireland. Some of the images belong to the Tuke collection held at the National Photographic Archive, Dublin but the majority of the images used in this volume stem from the extensive collections of Belfast-based photographer, Robert J. Welch. His professional career spanned almost sixty years and being a careful observer of all aspects of life inevitably his work carries a wealth of previously underused historical data. Prolific as he was, his images have been dispersed worldwide so this work endeavours to reunite the various strands of Welch s interests. To this end three of the contributors Dr Vivienne Pollock, Ulster Museum, Marie Boran, Special Collections Librarian, NUI Galway (NUIG) and Maggie Burns, Librarian, Birmingham Central Library will account the provenance and nature of the Welch material held at their respective repositories. Sara Smyth, National Photographic Archive, Dublin, focuses on the Tuke collection held in Dublin, while Dr Gail Baylis, University of Ulster, Coleraine, critically assesses the relationship between the photographer, lens and subject. Dr Justin Carville, Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire, will describe the significance of Welch s contribution to colonial photography.
Donegal: The Making of a Northern County edited by Jim Mac Laughlin
Hardback; 45 Euro / 60 USD / 30 UK; 385 pages [Add To Basket]
This anthology uses extracts from a wide variety of sources, to examine social and geographical change in Donegal over the past five centuries. Combining the approaches of the literary anthologist with that of the historian and social geographer, Jim MacLaughlin focuses on changes in community life and material culture in Donegal from the pre-colonial period to the late 20th century. The book presents extracts from historical records, travel literature, literary sources, biographies and autobiographies, official documents, political pamphlets and reports of government officials. It places the interpretations of academics alongside the observations of local historians, antiquarians, travellers, government officials, poets and writers.
James Joyce’s Dublin Houses and Nora Barnacle’s Galway by Vivien Igoe
Trade Paperback; 14 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; 186 pages
James Joyce's Dublin Houses describes in detail the many houses in Dublin where the Joyce family lived. It reflects on the positive effect that the constant moving had on the young James Joyce, in providing him with an intimate knowledge of the city that was to become such an important backdrop to his work. It also provides detailed information for the reader on how to get to the various places. It concentrates on the houses where the Joyce family lived, also pinpointing the haunts of his characters, Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus. Vivien Igoe, an expert on Joyce, explains the background and origins of both Joyce and Nora Barnacle, who inspired the principal female character in Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. There is also information on where Joyce stayed on his return visits to Dublin in later life. While the book will be of interest to Joycean pilgrims and students of Anglo-Irish literature alike, it is also aimed at the general reader to provide a useful interpretative aid to Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
An Archaeology of Southwest Ireland 1570-1670 by Colin Breen
Hardback; 45 Euro / 60 USD / 30 UK; 240 pages
The 17th century was a period of significant political and religious upheavals and was also a formative period in terms of landscape and settlement development throughout Ireland. This book examines Munster from an historical archaeology perspective. In particular the study sets the archaeological context of these developments against the historical background of plantation, Cromwellian intervention and economic expansion.
Important developments in rural settlement occurred with a network of agricultural and trade settlement clusters being established or re-developed. The landscape was also physically changed through new patterns of ownership, enclosure and intensification of rural practice. Much of this was related to a large expansion in agricultural and fishing activity resulting in significant investment in port and marine communication facilities. Industry was an important component of these developments and the Munster landscape retains many traces of these industries including iron and charcoal works. Finally the role of the churches is examined in the context of these changing times.Nation States: The Cultures of Irish Nationalism by Michael Mays
Trade Paperback; 30 Euro / 40 USD / 20 UK; 222 pages [Add To Basket]
This book examines the cultural formations of Irish nationalism, and the corollary processes of decolonization, postcolonialism, modernity, and globalization, that have been instrumental in the creation of the modern Irish state. In mapping the contested cultural terrain of Irish nationalism from the Act of the Union of 1800 to the present, Mays argues that Irish nationalism as a coherent ideological form took shape isomorphically out of the historical conditions and exchanges of Anglo-Irish colonial negotiation.
Great Irish Writers by Martin Wallace
Small Paperback; 7 Euro / 10 USD / 5 UK; 127 pages, with colour and black-and-white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
"Great Irish Writers" provides a parade of the biographies of some of Ireland's greatest literary figures. Some figures are little known outside of Ireland such as Forest Reid, Gerald Griffin, or Joyce Cary but others such as Seamus Heaney, James Joyce or W.B. Yeats are famous worldwide. Martin Wallace celebrates the best of Ireland's poets, playwrights and novelists. His cast includes such favourites as Dean Swift; George Farquhar, Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan and many more.
Please note: Prices were correct at time of original posting but are subject to subsequent change without notice.
Gregory Carr, Independent Bookseller
Read Ireland
392 Clontarf Road
Dublin 3
Ireland
Tel + Fax: +353-1-853-2063
Customer Services Comments, Criticism and Questions
Subscribe to Read Ireland Book News - Our Free Weekly Email Newsletter