Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 167
Not of This World? Evangelical Protestants in Northern Ireland by Glenn Jordan
Paperback; 14.00 IEP / 17.50 USD / 11.00 UK / 17.80 EURO; 232 pages; Blackstaff Press [Add To Basket]Evangelicalism is one of the least understood sectors of Northern Irish society, evoking emotions that range from bewilderment to disdain and even fear. Arguing that evangelicalism plays too far important a role to be so easily dismissed or misunderstood, this important book is based on in-depth interviews with more than seventy men and women from the Protestant evangelical tradition. They talk revealingly about their deepest beliefs and convictions, their understanding of Northern Ireland's troubled history, and their hopes and fears for the future. The result is a candid and complex portrait of an influential community - a portrait that also offers a more profound understanding of the wider society in which evangelicals live, work and worship.
The Sieges of Derry edited by William Kelly
Hardback; 23.95 IEP / 29.50 USD / 18.99 UK / 30.50 EURO; Four Courts Press; 144 pages [Add To Basket]Few events in Irish history have generated such an output of writing, reaction and controversy as the siege of Derry in 1689. In fact, the events of those months still resonate in modern politics. Controversies over commemorations of the siege have often resulted in violence in the streets of Derry and elsewhere. This volume of essays seeks to explore these events and their profound impact on the literature, history, politics and popular culture of Ireland. Given the breadth of material and timespan, this series of essays is as much a contribution to our understanding of some of the most intractable problems of modern Ireland as it is to our knowledge of events in the seventeenth century, events which still inspire popular mythology and inform the ideology of Ulster Unionism.
Travelling West by Rita Kelly
Paperback; 12.00 IEP / 14.50 USD / 10.50 UK / 15.25 EURO; 173 pages; Arlen House [Add To Basket]Rita Kelly's poetry introduces the reader to a distinctive voice which commands respect and admiration for a consistent attempt to find and shape a language which will be in keeping with the complexity and sensitive aspects of her view of the world. It has a subtle depth of tone - there is an urgency, but a great range of narrative style, and there is humour. As always in her work there is a strong sense of place. Her atlas and her map are now more extensive. This extended experience is as much cultural as it is geographic. She ranges from a sun-filled afternoon in New York whizzing through the traffic, to the seemingly simple pleasures of a child building a sand-castle in Conamara.
Perfume of the Soil by Mary Guckian
Paperback; 5.95 IEP / 7.00 USD / 5.00 UK / 7.60 EURO; 60 pages; Swan Press [Add To Basket]A collection of poetry from the Co. Leitrim poet.
Bone and Petals by Eithne Cavanagh
Paperback; 5.95 IEP / 7.00 USD / 5.00 UK / 7.60 EURO; 60 pages; Swan Press [Add To Basket]In this collection, the poet explores family history, childhood memories, love and loss. Many of the poems reflect the author's love of foreign travel and her interest in the Arts. The collection also considers her response to a variety of cultures.
The Early Years: Recollections of Madame Sidney Gifford Czira edited by Alan Hayes
Paperback; 16.50 IEP / 20.00 USD / 14.00 UK / 20.95 EURO; 241 pages; Arlen House [Add To Basket]'John Brennan' was a woman of the twentieth century, and along with her five sisters, the Giffords, she contributed to many of the developments of that time. Born Sidney Gifford in 1889 into a well-off Protestant unionist family, she was attracted to the nationalist cause and started publishing articles as a school girl for Arthur Griffith's 'Sinn Fein.' For the next 65 years, she was well-known as a broadcaster and political activist, and counted as her friends and associates, the men and women who were leaders of the nationalist struggle. This book is her memoir, first published in 1974, in which she recounts her memories of these people. More than biographical portraits, she gives an insider's view which is perceptive, entertaining and enlightening and adds greatly to the study of the political developments of the early decades of the last century. She provides the reader with a vivid picture of some of the customs and social live in Dublin in the early twentieth-century, and recounts the exciting developments in theatre during the Irish literary renaissance. This edition republishes the original manuscript together with a foreword by Gifford Lewis who was her original publisher and a biographical article on her and her five sisters by editor Alan Hayes. The book also includes selections of her journalism.
James Liddy: A Critical Study by Brian Arkins
Paperback; 8.95 IEP / 10.50 USD / 7.50 UK / 11.40 EURO; 118 pages; Arlen House [Add To Basket]James Liddy is one of Ireland's leading contemporary poets. Combining Kavanagh's sense of local place with the cosmopolitan allegiances of MacNeice, exhibiting a Joycean sensibility that is Catholic, sexually open, and devoted to the quotidian, Liddy has proceeded to write some of the most original poetry to come out of Ireland since Yeats. He has, in particular, produced a very powerful body of poems about sex, for which there is no Irish analogue. This book is the first comprehensive study of Liddy's work, placing it at the forefront of modern Irish literature.
The Seahound: The Story of an Irish Ship by Daire Brunicardi
Paperback; 10.99 IEP / 14.50 USD / 9.50 UK / 13.95 EURO; Collins Press; 151 pages
[Add To Basket]This is the story of a small ship that in another time or place would have had no significance. But the 'Helga', later the 'Muirchu (Sea Hound)', was present at the birth of a new state and was Ireland's first fishery-patrol and research ship. Its lifetime, 1908-1947, coincided with a most important period in Irish history. The maritime aspects of this period have received little attention. Many dramatic events occurred during the ship's lifetime and it was there for most of them or, at least, not far away. Its shelling of Liberty Hall is mentioned in every account of the 1916 Rising while it played a key role in the moving of Free-State troops during the Civil War. Renamed in 1923, it resumed fishery patrol and research work, despite being unarmed and unable to enforce its orders. In 1939 it was refitted for naval duties, the flagship of the world's smallest navy, patrolling against invasion and carrying out mine destruction. On her last voyage from navy headquarters at Haulbowline in Cork Harbour to Dublin for scrapping, the ship sank in a storm near the Saltee Islands off Wexford.
St. Therese of Lisiuex by Those Who Knew Her by Christopher O'Mahony
Paperback; 7.99 IEP / 9.50 USD / 6.50 UK / 10.20 EURO; Veritas; 287 pages [Add To Basket]Therese of Lisieux was declared Saint of the Church over fifty years ago. This book presents what those who knew her said about her when the first steps were taken towards her canonisation. Her sister, a maid, a school friend, her novice mistress, her novices and others, all have something to tell us about her from their own personal experience. The Therese they present is as loving, gentle and unassuming as we have always known her, but that quiet strength of character and undoubtable courage of the person wholly yielded up to God in loving trust regain their rightful emphasis in this restoration of 'the true face' of St. Therese.
God Save All Here: Memories of Life in County Roscommon during the 20th Century 2nd edition by Paul Healy
Paperback; 9.99 IEP / 13.50 USD / 8.50 UK / 12.70 EURO; Paul Healy; 206 pages, with b/w photos [Add To Basket]This book is a fascinating insight into the local history of Roscommon during a century and its people features interviews with men and women from all walks of life. They talk openly about life, death, happiness and hardship - and more. Subjects include: The ass and cart, living conditions in thatched houses, schooldays, the house station, wakes and funerals, the old fairs, emigration, killing the pig, the rambling houses, dances and carnivals, the American wakes and much more. This book captures the essence of 100 years in County Roscommon.
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