Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 163
Ways of Old: Traditional Life in Ireland by Olive Sharkey
Paperback; 10.99 IEP / 14.00 USD / 9.50 UK; 169 pages, with b/w photos and drawings; O'Brien Press [Add To Basket]Imagine Ireland without tractors, cars, electricity, running water … this book brings old Ireland to life with evocative descriptions of the work, activities and material possessions of the past. The author describes the implements of the home, the farm, the garden and for home-crafts, with hundreds of detailed drawings in an authentic folk-art style. These once-familiar objects - truckle-beds, bittles, butter-workers and noggins - are looked at anew in the context of the people who used them and depended on them for their livelihood. This is a new edition of this well-known classic originally published in 1985.
Killarney National Park: A Place to Treasure edited by Bill Quirke
Hardback; 25.00 IEP / 30.00 USD / 20.00 UK / 31.80 EURO; Collins Press; 230 pages, full colour throughout [Add To Basket]Killarney National Park forms the backdrop for most visits to Killarney and indeed, County Kerry. It is the beautiful landscape visitors see in the distance when they play golf, visit Muckross House or look out a hotel window. Despite the popular image of a crowded commercialised tourist destination, this backdrop is arguably Ireland's greatest national treasure, over 26,000 acres of relatively undiscovered and unspoiled native woodlands, lakes, bogs and mountains. This book takes the reader into this landscape and shows that here indeed is a place that deserves and needs to be cherished in Ireland. Each contributor shares his/her expertise and love of this park on a voluntary basis and the proceeds from the sale of this book will go to supporting nature conservation projects in the park.
Traditional Irish Cookery by Carmel Kavenagh
Paperback; 8.40 IEP / 10.50 USD / 7.50 UK; 127 pages; Foulsham [Add To Basket]For generations of Irish people around the world, traditional Irish cookery is the taste of their childhood. This cookbook is for them - and for everyone else who envies Ireland's reputation for quality, wholesome, satisfying foods. Ireland is a country where culinary traditions were shaped by a climate, and an economy that was in turn both unpredictable and demanding. Conditions that could have stifled creativity in fact inspired originality - and turned the humble potato into a culinary work of art. As an island nation blessed with lush pastures, Ireland boasts a wealth of seafood and first-class beef, dairy products and fresh produce. This book makes the most of them all, proving there's a lot more to Irish cooking than the famous and ever-popular Irish stew - although of course you'll find that there too.
Guide to National and Historic Monuments of Ireland by Peter Harbison
Paperback; 15.99 IEP / 22.00 USD / 13.50 UK; 380 pages; with maps, illustrations and black-and-white photos; Gill & Macmillan [Add To Basket]Since its first publication in 1970, this classic Guide has introduced countless thousands to the archaeological riches with which the Irish landscape is endowed. Detailed plans and reference maps, reconstructions and illustrations enliven the text, which describes all the monuments in close detail. A comprehensive introduction places these monuments within the context of Irish history. The author's unparalleled knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, his subject have ensured that this Guide is an indispensable companion for everyone travelling through Ireland who wishes to appreciate the riches of its ancient built heritage.
Aspects of the Belfast Agreement edited by Rick Wilford
Paperback; 22.50 IEP / 28.50 USD / 18.50 UK; 266 pages; Oxford [Add To Basket]This edited collection assembles leading experts on the politics and constitution of Northern Ireland to explore and analyse aspects of the 1998 Belfast Agreement. For most, the Agreement represented an inclusive political bargain, while others perceived it as an act of betrayal - whether of the Union or, conversely, of republicanism. These rival interpretations are discussed by key actors both within and outside Northern Ireland in forging the Agreement. The more immediate provenance of the Agreement is complemented by a comparison with its often cited predecessor, the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement, and the formers' 'consociational plus' design is explained while its legislative implementation is set within the context of cross-cutting constitutionalism ushered in by the UK's wider devolution process. The collection also discusses the British-Irish Council, and the early operation of both the Executive Committee and the Assembly elected in 1998.
Michael Collins and the Troubles: The Struggle for Irish Freedom 1912-1922 by Ulick O'Connor
Paperback; 11.20 IEP / 14.50 USD / 10.00 UK; 224 pages; with b/w photos; Mainstream Publishing [Add To Basket]When Asquith introduced his bill for Home Rule for Ireland in 1912, he sparked a decade of turbulence and violence for Ireland and her people. Michael Collins played a crucial role in rekindling Ireland's aspirations for freedom. A leading figure in the nation's bitter and bloody resistance to British Rule, he played a key part in reshaping Ireland's history as we know it today. This new edition of the classic book originally published in 1975 includes valuable new information about the secret war against England and provides a fresh and highly dramatic account of Ireland's fight for freedom. Using crucial material from the archives of General Richard Mulcahy, Collins's Chief of Staff, as well as personal interviews with Mulcahy, Eamon de Valera, and many other leading figures, this book is a vivid and often horrifying account of a turning point in Irish history.
James Chichester-Clark: Prime Minister of Northern Ireland by Clive Scoular
Paperback; 13.50 IEP / 16.50 USD / 11.50 UK; 175 pages, with b/w photos; [Add To Basket]James Chichester-Clark was Northern Ireland's fifth Prime Minister from May 1969 until March 1971. He was heavily pressurised by the Civil Rights Association to introduce more reforms, even though he initiated more than any of his predecessors during this troubled period in Northern Ireland's history. He struggled to implement the recommendations of the Scarman, Hunt and Cameron reports, particularly the disbanding of the 'B' Specials. When the Bogside riots of August 1969 erupted, he was compelled to call in British Troops when the RUC's resources were stretched beyond breaking point. His relations with the British Prime Ministers, Harold Wilson and Edward Heath, were always fractious. This biography describes not only these difficult events of his premiership, but also tells the story of him as a family man and trusted friend.
Children of the Dead End by Patrick MacGill
Paperaback; 7.99 IEP / 9.50 USD / 6.50 UK / 10.20 EURO; New Island Books; 317 pages [Add To Basket]Originally published in 1914, this book is based on the personal memories of the author's life in Ireland and Scotland during the early 1900s. A bonafide classic, it tells the story of Dermod Flynn, an independent and feisty youth, who earns a meagre living as an itinerant farm hand in Donegal and County Tyrone, before moving to Scotland with a potato-picking squad. Alternatively living on the road, labouring and navvying, Dermod reads voraciously, begins to discover his talent as a writer and is eventually lured to Fleet Street, where he briefly follows a career in journalism. Peopled with extraordinary characters and told with humour, this novel is a gritty and uncompromising expose of the near slavery endured by the poor in Ireland and Scotland at the beginning of the 20th century. A best-seller from the outset, it has become a literary classic, unmatched in its accurate portrayal of this dark corner of Irish and Scottish social history.
Shipwrecks of Ireland by Edward J. Bourke
Paperback; 15.50 IEP / 21.50 USD / 13.00 UK; 128 pages; numerous b/w photos; Tempus Publishing [Add To Basket]The Irish coast has seen shipwrecks from Celtic times through to the present day. The Romans may have had a small bridgehead at Loughshinney and continental wars were fought offshore. The 1588 Spanish Armada came by and left its tribute of twenty-six ships on the remote west coast. Before 1800 ports like Dublin, Strangford, Waterford, Kinsale and Wexford were very significant. Hazards around Ireland range from rocky cliffs of the west coast coupled with a transatlatic landfall in fog or snow to the treacherous sandbanks of the east coast.
Irish Human Rights Review 2000 edited by Dennis Driscoll
Paperback; 35.00 IEP / 42.50 USD / 29.50 UK; 206 pages; Round Hall Sweet & Maxwell [Add To Basket]Dealing with contemporary human rights issues, this review features articles by leading academics and legal practitioners on questions of human rights and how they relate to Ireland. Issues that affect all aspects of modern Irish life are raised and explored. Coverage includes aspects of domestic social policy, law enforcement, etc. which have developed and are developing in line with the principles espoused in, for example, the European Convention on Human Rights and the E.C. Treaty. It also highlights Ireland's responsibility to contribute to the international community with a proactive foreign policy on human rights.
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