Read Ireland Book News - Issue 62
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A Meteor Shining Brightly: Essays on Major General Patrick R. Cleburne edited by Mauriel Phillips Joslyn (Hardback; 25.00 IRP / 37.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
The life of Patrick Cleburne was the stuff of epics and novels. From a teenage runaway to a lowly private in Wellington's Army, he was thrown on his own resources at an early age, while the Ireland of his youth mounted a call for independence. He went to America as impoverished gentry, to seek a new start from the ravages of the Great Famine, and on his own merit he carved a life in the young frontier town of Helena, Arkansas. Shaped by the harshness of the British Army, and his Irish heritage, his concept of freedom was more political than inalienable. When his adopted country was ripped apart by war, Cleburne followed his conscience, coming from nowhere to gain fame and immortality as the highest ranking Irishman of either army, and the most capable division commander of the Confederate Army. From Shiloh to Jonesboro, Cleburne won glory for the Army of Tennessee. His spirit was a meteor shining brightly, whose trailed blazed out abruptly at Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864. The nine writers and historians in this book provide insight into the life and character of this Irishman. Eleven essays explore diverse topics, including the influence of his Irish background on his decision to fight for the South; his proposal to enlist slaves, relations with staff officers, provocative examinations of his strategy and command skills, and the poignant but tragic romance cut short by his untimely death in the Battle of Franklin. From public like of a military commander to the very private, often shy man, Cleburne is revealed as a complex individual.
A Short History of Tipperary Military Barracks (Infantry) 1874-1922 compiled by Walter O'Shea (Paperback; 8.99 IRP / 13.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
The military barracks in Tipperary town was an integral part of the town's economy and history for almost half a century. While the history and heritage of the town and it's surrounding areas is well documents, no specific records of the barracks has been compiled and this book is intended to contribute to filling this void. Included is a record of British Military graves located in the cemeteries of the town. This was surveyed in 1992, as part of the author's initial project on Tipperary Military Barracks. The book also contains verbatim transcripts from the British Military Records for the period of the War of Independence; they give the reader an insight into the activities of these regiments in their own words during that turbulent period of Irish history.
A Short History of the Third Tipperary Brigade by John R. Shelley (Paperback; 6.99 IRP / 10.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
This book had its origins in the author's youth. As a young boy, he remembered his father telling him about a place called Soloheadbeg where the ''first shots in the War of Independence were fired". He remembered being told the stories of Sean Treacy and Dan Breen, and all the members of the 3rd Tipperary Brigade. Their deeds make fascinating reading.
Irish Pubs by Barrie Pepper (Hardback; 9.25 IRP / 15.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
This book is a guide to the author's personal list of the top 100 Irish pubs and inns in Ireland. He has spent six years collecting material on some of the best known pubs, and some which are way off the beaten track - but well worth finding. For each pub he tells the reader how to find it, its facilities and what you can eat and drink, its history, its owners and maybe an anecdote or two. The reader will also learn what else he can enjoy in the neighbourhood, whether great landscapes, castles or another pub out to prove to him that Irish pubs are definitely something special.
Where the River Flows: Annamoe Rectory by Vera Pettigrew (Paperback; 8.95 IRP / 13.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
Annamoe is a tiny village in County Wicklow, 'a humpback bridge with the river flowing beneath, a post-office, one shop, a few whitewashed cottages'. Half a mile away is the large old Georgian rectory, set among brooding hills, beautiful in summer, harsh and lonely in winter. To Annamoe rectory in 1957 came Vera Pettigrew, her husband Stanley and baby daughter. This book is Vera's entertaining and nostalgic account of the five and a half years they spent there, recording with a keen sense of humour and a sharp ear for dialogue the day-to-day activities of parish and family life, from fetes to festivals, from schools to scout camps. But her story also stretches out to wider shores: growing up in Northern Ireland; the first curacy in Newcastle, County Down; the start of married life in Clontarf in Dublin; summers in Sligo and Connemara; Stanley's painting; her own love of animals and the joy and heartbreak they brought her; echoes of the past recalled by the names Barton, Childers and Synge. This book is a fascinating and affectionate picture of people and places in those remote parishes of Derralossary, Laragh and Calary.
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