Read Ireland Book News - Issue 82
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Death of a Hero: Captain Robert Nairac, GC and the Undercover War in Northern Ireland by John Parker (Hardback; 20.00 IRP / 30.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
Mystery shrouds the disappearance and death of Grenadier Guards Captain Robert Nairac, GC, kidnapped and murdered by the IRA in May 1977. More than twenty years later after his death, his story still haunts the imagination, not least because of Nairac's extraordinary courage and the fact that his body was never found.
In January 1976, at the height of the vicious undercover war with the IRA, Robert Nairac, aged 29, commenced his undercover work. A devout Catholic, student of Irish history and robust singer of Irish rebel songs, he was released from his duties with the Grenadier Guards and seconded to the Special Air Service with the specific task of intelligence liaison. With his black Labrador for company, he was posted to the most dangerous area of operations, South Armagh. Here he was plunged into the murkiest of intelligence worlds, awash with dirty tricks, and river by the internecine rivalry between MI5 and MI6. After months of operations, he was snatched from a South Armagh pub where he had arranged to meet a contact; he was driven across the border into the Irish Republic, interrogated and shot. This book tells the full story of his life and death.
Fatal Encounter: The Story of the Gibraltar Killings by Nicholas Eckert (Paperback; 7.99 IRP / 12.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
On March 6, 1988, acting on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's authority, members of Britain's Special Air Service shot dead three unarmed Irish Republican Army operatives in Gibraltar. Their deaths set off a chain reaction of violence in Belfast that ultimately claimed eight lives and left three young men serving life sentences in prison for murders they did not commit. Now, after ten years of willed forgetfulness and cover-up, Nicholas Eckert has ripped open the badly healed wound of the Gibraltar killings with this detailed expose. Drawing on a mountain of source material, this book explains what really happened on the Rock and why the killings there still haunt Ireland and Britain. Resurrecting the full horror of 'Mad' March 1988, it is a haunting and totally damning indictment of both the SAS and the IRA.
Northern Ireland's Troubles: The Human Costs by Marie-Therese Fay, Mike Morrissey and Marie Smyth (Paperback; 16.50 IRP / 22.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
Northern Ireland's armed conflict has left a deep and lasting scar on its people. The results of an extensive survey undertaken by the Belfast-based The Cost of the Troubles Study, this volume provides the first in-depth analysis of the impact of armed conflict on the people of Northern Ireland. Summarising the geographical, religious, gender and age distribution of deaths, the authors provide a thorough understanding of political violence in Northern Ireland and an examination of the economic and social issues. Included in an outline of the main protagonists, a chronology of key events, and a profile of the victims and perpetrators of violence, including an assessment of the impact of the Troubles on children.
Do Schools Differ? By Emer Smyth (Paperback; 16.95 IRP / 25.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
Education has profound consequences for life chances among young people in Ireland, However, relatively little is known about the impact of schools of their pupils. Do schools really differ? What school characteristics help to enhance educational achievements? How could schools reduce their drop-out rates? Are pupil stress levels higher in some schools than others? Do schools just affect 'points' or can they influence personal development among pupils? This book draws on a national survey of over 100 schools and detailed case-studies of six schools to address these questions. It identifies school factors which are associated with enhanced academic and personal/social development among pupils and discusses the implications for educational policy.
Tipperary in the Year of Rebellion 1798 by William J. Hayes (Paperback; 6.99 IRP / 11.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
Charles Kickham stirred the ghosts of 1798 in his beloved valley of Slievenamon a generation after the Rebellion. It was in that lovely valley that the principal symbolic stand was made by a group of Tipperary's Unitedmen in July 1798. William Hayes recounts that tragic episode as well as unfolding all the main events that occurred in Tipperary in that fated Year of Liberty. Despite brutal repression Tipperary remained defiant and even more seditious as the new century opened, and as the seeds of democracy gradually took root.
Celtic Christianity: Making Myths and Chasing Dreams by Ian Bradley (Paperback; 15.00 IRP / 22.50 USD)(Hardback; 45.00 IRP / 67.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
The current fascination with Celtic Christianity is the latest manifestation of a lingering love affair stretching back over the last 1300 years. This book explores how the native Christian communities of the British Isles from the fifth to the tenth centuries have been idealised and appropriated by succeeding generations who have projected their own preconceptions and prejudices on to a perceived 'golden age' of Celtic Christianity. The author describes and analyses five major movements of Celtic Christian revivalism, starting with the world of the seventh- and eighth-century hagiographers who created the cults of the Celtic Saints and ending with the first full analysis of the current revival of interest in Celtic Christianity. Through the course of the book the reader is provided with a fascinating study of the chasing of dreams and the making of myths. This is the first comprehensive and chronological survey of the development of the 'concept' of 'Celtic Christianity' and contains a rich collection of sources with illustrations throughout.
The Irish and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 by Robert A. Stradling (Paperback; 11.00 IRP / 16.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War threw Irish politics north and south of the border into turmoil. Tragic events in Spain aroused emotive responses across the spectrum of Irish society. In contrast to most other communities of the British Isles, citizens of the Irish Free State were mainly pro-Franco. But many on the left felt a strong identification with the plight of the Spanish Republic.
Ireland sent organised bodies of men to fight on opposed side in the Spanish Civil War. The International Brigade volunteers were led by the IRA warrior, Frank Ryan. Their rivals, who became a battalion of Franco's Foreign Legion were mostly members of the semi-fascist Blueshirts, and were commanded by the ex-leader of that movement, General Eoin O'Duffy. In late 1936, two enemy crusades - Communist and Catholic - left Ireland to fight it out in Spain.
This book relates the two 'crusades in conflict' to their political and cultural background in 1930s Ireland. It examines the personal and ideological motives of the volunteers, and follows their marches across the battlefields of Spain. In a conclusion which gets to the heart of the tragedy in Spain, as experience by outsiders, the book ends with an assessment of the meaning and significance of the sacrifices involved. Illuminated by personal histories, this lively, well-written book gets to the heart of this tragic 'last crusade'.
Great Irish Voices: Over 400 Years of Irish Oratory edited by Gerard Reid (Hardback; 19.95 IRP / 29.95 USD) [Add To Basket]
Amongst the multitude of speeches, sermons and addresses annually delivered by Irish men and women, only a few are permanently preserved. The remainder are forgotten. The main objective of this compilation is to bring together a selection of speeches, sermons and addresses from some of Ireland's greatest statesman and women over the last 400 years. They are arranged in chronological order, with an introduction giving the background to each one. Brief biographical notes are also given on each speaker at the back of the book.
The orationn choses are always interesting in themselves and many of them prove enlightening views of historical events. For instance, Ireland's stance, (both North and South) during World War Two can be readily seen by reading Eamon de Valera's, Lord Craigavon's and James Dillon's speeches at the time. The great speakers of the Irish past are represented, with Grattan, Burke, O'Connell and Parnell each given considerable attention. The great Irish lawyers are also well represented with John Philpot Curran's speech at Archibald Hamilton Rowan's trial being the most notable. However, no compilation of Irish speeches would be complete without church sermons, Jonathan Swift's being the highlight amongst them.
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