Read Ireland Book News - Issue 87 - New Irish History
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Black 47 and Beyond: The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy and Memory by Cormac ó Gráda (Hardback; 20.00 IRP / 30.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
In this book, economic historian and one of the leading authorities on the Great Irish Famine examines the most lethal natural disaster to strike Europe in the 19th century. Between the mid-18th and early-19th centuries, the food source that we still call the Irish potato had allowed the fastest population growth in the whole of Western Europe. As vividly described in ó Gráda's new work, the advent of the blight transformed the potato from an emblem of utility to a symbol of death by starvation. The Irish famine peaked in Black '47, but it brought misery and increased mortality to Ireland for several years. Central to British and Irish history, European demography, the world of history of famines, and the story of American immigration, the Great Irish Famine is presented here from a variety of new perspectives. Moving away from the traditional narrative historical approach to the catastrophe, ó Gráda concentrates instead on fresh insights available through interdisciplinary and comparative methods. He highlights several economic and demographic features of the famine previously neglected in the literature, such as the part played by traders and markets, by medical science and by migration. Other topics include how the Irish climate exacerbated the failure of the crops in 1845-1847, and the controversial issue of Britain's failure to provide adequate relief to the dying Irish. Ó Gráda also examines the impact of urban Dublin of what was mainly a rural disaster and offers a critical analysis of the famine as represented in folk memory and tradition. The broad scope of this book is matched by its remarkable range of sources, published and archival.
Ironing the Land: The Coming of the Railway to Ireland by Kevin O'Connor (Hardback: 14.99 IRP / 22.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
This book tells the thrilling story of the railways of Ireland. The railway was the greatest advance in human mobility in all history. This book recalls the heroic early days of Ireland's railway system, how it opened up the entire countryside. It brought the city to the country; newspapers and books; processed food; day-trippers and tourists. It brought the country to the city: people eager for work and the bright lights; ambitions young men with new horizons; emigrants. There were mainline systems operating radially from Dublin - to Belfast, Cork, Derry, Galway, Limerick, Sligo, Waterford and Wexford. In the late 19th century, a great network of narrow gauge lines was built in the West of Ireland. They were not economic but they were the stuff of romance: the West Clare, the Cavan & Leitrim, the Londonderry & Lough Swilly. The 20th century first brought decline; then consolidation; and finally renewal. As we approach the millennium, the Irish railways are in good order. This book tells their inspiring story in words and over 100 black-and-white photographs.
Before the Revolution: Nationalism, Social Change and Ireland's Catholic Elite, 1879-1922 by Senia Paseta (Paperback; 15.95 IRP / 22.50 USD)(Hardback; 35.00 IRP / 49.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
This book is a persuasive new study charting the emergence of a 'Catholic elite' in pre-Home Rule Ireland. It explores the developing influences of Catholic intellectuals - both men and women - in Irish politics during the era before the First World War and the Easter Rising, using the prism of the Irish university question and the development of secondary schools. By profiling a cross-section of representative groups and associations, the author challenges the accepted view that Gaelicist rhetoric and 'advanced' nationalist politics predominated among politically-minded students. She also sceptically examines the assumption, much cherished at the time, that employment opportunities for such graduates were limited by the structural bias of the government, or the influence of intransigent Protestants. This study also chronicles the development of self-consciously Catholic organisations in response to the pervasive idea that the professions actively discriminated against majority religion. By concentrating on the emergence of such organisations, and the exposure of rifts within Irish society by educational and social, no less that political, developments around the turn of the century, this work presents a new perspective on the age of the cultural revival and the radicalisation of Irish nationalism.
A Dream of Liberty: Constance Markievicz's Vision of Ireland by Sari Oikarinen (Paperback; 22.50 IRP / 37.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
Constance Markievicz was one of the main leaders of the Irish revolution which gave Ireland the political geography of the Irish Free State and the region of Northern Ireland. She was born among the privileged Anglo-Irish but dedicated her life to ending British government in Ireland. Many people from her class were at this same time interested in cherishing the Irish language and culture but only few combined armed rebellion against British government with these nationalistic cultural goals. And even fewer fought to improve the status of workers and women, in the way that Markievicz did. Her role in the Easter Rising of 1916 was an exceptional one for a women to be elected to the House of Commons and in the first Dail Eireann she held a cabinet post as Minister for Labour.
In this book the author analyses the political career of this remarkable woman from her earliest awakening to nationalism to her espousal of republicanism and socialism within the context of Irish intellectual and political history. In Markievicz's view, the freedom of an individual could only be achieved through the gaining of national freedom and only national freedom could offer the possibility of living a 'true Irish life': the life of a useful, independent citizen.
The Pleasing Hours by Cynthia O'Connor (Hardback; 20.00 IRP / 30.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
In 1746 the young Lord Charlemont, with his tutor, Edward Murphy, set out from Dublin on his Grand Tour. In 1749 he chartered a ship and crew to sail to Constantinople, the Greek Islands, Egypt, Asia Minor and Greece. A voyage undertaken in the spirit of adventure resulted in the discovery of the lost city of Helicarnassus and the Friezes from the Mausoleum at Bodrum. Based in Rome from 1750, Charlemont formed connections with the most eminent men of his day. With an established reputation as a connoisseur and patron of the arts, Charlemont returned to Ireland in 1754. A patriot and a statesman, he took his seat in the Irish House of Lords and supported an independent Irish Parliament. He was elected Commander-in-Chief of the Irish Volunteers and presided over the Dungannon Convention in 1782. He helped found the Royal Irish Academy and was elected its first president in 1785.
A Walk Through Rebel Dublin 1916 by Mick O'Farrell (Paperback; 7.99 IRP / 12.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
This book is a comprehensively illustrated guide to the Rising of Easter Week 1916 based on the significant locations of the rebellion. Dealing separately with thirty buildings and sites throughout the city - including the General Post Office, Liberty Hall, Trinity College, the Four Courts and Dublin Castle - the author provides a brief, fascinating history of the events and personalities that dominated these locations during Easter Week. A contemporary photograph of each location is juxtaposed with a photograph of the building or streetscape as it looks today. While some dramatic changes have taken place in the architecture of Dublin over the course of the 20th century, there is much that has remained unaltered, as these images will testify. This book can be read and enjoyed without visiting the locations featured, but the reader is encouraged to walk the streets of Dublin, book in hand, to get a vivid sense of some of the most dramatic episodes in Ireland's history.
In Sligo Long Ago: Aspects of Town and Country Over Two Centuries by John C. McTernan (Hardback; 22.50 IRP / 34.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
This volume highlights the events and personalities of bygone days. The collection of 50 essays is a microcosm of the history of Sligo over the past two centuries, and includes many topics omitted from the country histories of O'Rorke and Wood-Martin, such as: Land Tenure before and after the Famine; Brewing and Distilling; From Stagecoach to Railway; Turkish Baths; Remembering '98; Mills and Milling; Illicit Distillation; Rise and Fall of John Martin; Last Public Hanging; Fairs and Markets; Liberals, Radicals & Reformers; Inns & Taverns of Other Days; Inside the Masonic Hall; Last Occupants of Coolmeen.
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