Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 171
The Great Irish Potato Famine by James S. Donnelly, Jr.
Hardback; 28.00 IEP / 35.50 USD / 23.99 UK / 37.60 EURO; Sutton; 292 pages [Add To Basket]This book provides an accessible, comprehensive account of the Irish famine, combining narrative, analysis, historiography, and scores of contemporary illustrations. It furnishes vivid insights into the misery of the famine and the additional nightmare of the mass evictions that followed. Professor Donnelly aims to answer the numerous vexed questions which have surrounded the subject ever since. Was Britain guilty of genocide against the Irish people, or was British culpability more complex? Could the disaster have been considerably reduced in its dimensions, even if not averted altogether? Scholarly and up-to-date, this book is required reading for anyone with an interest in Ireland or in the way natural disasters and government responses to them can lead to the destiny of nations.
7 Reece Mews: Francis Bacon's Studio, with foreward by John Edwards and photographs by Perry Ogden
Hardback; 17.95 IEP / 21.50 USD / 14.99 UK / 23.00 EURO; Thames & Hudson,120 pages, full colour photos throughout [Add To Basket]Francis Bacon moved into 7 Reece Mews in London's South Kensington in 1961. It was to remain his principal home and studio until his death in 1992. Prior to the removal of the studio to the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in Dublin in 1998, access was granted to photographer Perry Ogden to produce this record of the house and its contents. He captured every part of the small building's hidden and untouched interior. In the studio itself, thirty years of artistic endeavour had accumulated unchecked: the slashed, discarded canvases scattered across the floor; the brushes, rags and tins encrusted with paint; the doors and walls used as impromptu palettes; the piles of photographs of friends and models; the crumpled and torn pages of magazines and books that served as visual stimulus for his work; the notes, sketches and ideas jotted down and then cast aside; the last unfinished painting on the easel. For some of those close to Bacon in his lifetime, the studio was an heroic statement, a work of art in its own right, created over many years to distil and give form to his aesthetic intentions. Now in this astonishing book we are invited to take a privileged look around his private space, to become intimate witnesses to the amazing conditions in which he lived and worked, to gain unrivalled insights into how, why and what he painted.
Dublin Made Me by C.S. Andrews
Paperback; 10.00 IEP / 12.00 USD / 8.50 UK / 12.70 EURO; Lilliput Press; 338 pages, with b/w photo insert [Add To Basket]This book is the first of two celebrated volumes of autobiography, originally published in 1979, and describes in loving detail the pre-independence Dublin in which the author grew up and provides a vivid participant's account of the War of Independence and the Civil War. Born in 1901, Andrews lived with his family in Summerhill until 1910, when they moved to the distant suburb of Terenure. Andrews' account of the two Dublins of his youth is an unsentimental urban pastoral, sensuous and immediate. He describes his schooling with the nuns in Dominick Street, with Patrick Pearse for an unhappy year in St. Enda's, and then with the Christian Brothers in Synge Street. And he gives a rich, detailed account of his apprenticeship in Irish republicanism, from his pre-1916 experiences as a youthful 'camp-follower of the Volunteers' to his active service in Dublin in the War of Independence and his dangerous days as adjutant to Liam Lynch, chief of staff of the anti-Treaty forces during the Civil War. Andrews writes dispassionately of internment and huger-strikes, and of the bitter divide between the pro- and anti-Treaty sides, once comrades-in-arms. This book is a unique account of an ordinary childhood transformed by war and revolution.
Man of No Property by C.S. Andrews
Paperback; 10.00 IEP / 12.00 USD / 8.50 UK / 12.70 EURO; Lilliput Press; 338 pages, with b/w photo insert [Add To Basket]This is an extraordinary memoir, originally published in 1982, in which Andrews gives a personal history of his varied and distinguished career in public service to the Irish state. The early chapters cover what were, for Andrews and his fellow republicans, difficult years under the government of Cumann na nGaedheal. Andrews describes the ambience of University College Dublin, where he resumed his studies after the end of the Troubles, and writes with insight and sensitivity of the founding of Fianna Fail, which forced anti-Treaty republicans to decide whether to accept the established political order. Andrews chose the constitutional path, and after Fianna Fail came to power in 1932 his working life, which had begun modestly in the Irish Tourist Association and the ESB, was transformed by his appointment as managing director of the Turf Development Board, later Bord na Mona. This visionary enterprise, undertaken in the face of ridicule from those who saw the bogs as an irremediable symbol of backwardness, was immensely successful, and Andrews gave to it nearly three decades in the prime of his life. This book is the plain-spoken, often controversial testament of a singular figure in twentieth-century Irish life, and is necessary reading for anyone who wishes to understand the evolution of the Irish state in its first half-century.
An Irish Journal by Gerry Adams
Paperback; Paperback; 10.00 IEP / 12.00 USD / 8.50 UK / 12.70 EURO; Brandon; 286 pages [Add To Basket]This book contains a unique insight into recent Irish politics, covering the crucial period between September 1997 and the end of 2000. Consisting of selected articles written during that period, mostly for his regular column in the New York newspaper, The Irish Voice, these writings provide not only a revealing chronicle of public events but also an insight into his private life, and some surprisingly light and humorous moments. His reports posses a remarkable immediacy, written as they were in the midst of momentous events. From the long Unionist refusal to talk to republicans, through the tortuous negotiations of the Good Friday Agreement, to the suspension of the Executive and other crises, Gerry Adams gives an absorbing first-hand account.
Shame MacGowan: London Irish Punk by Joe Merrick
Paperback; 15.50 IEP / 19.00 USD / 12.99 UK / 19.75 EURO; Omnibus, 212 pages, with b/w color insert [Add To Basket]As lead singer of The Pogues and as a solo artist, Shane MacGowan is a defining figure of modern Irish music. Among the greatest songwriters of his generation, he has infused traditional Irish folk with the spirit of punk and a bleary-eyed romanticism to create a compelling and unique musical brew. In this comprehensive study, the author traces the life of this complex figure from his childhood in Tipperary and England, through The Pogues' success and subsequent painful break-up, before bringing the story up to date with an evaluation of MacGowan's solo career. It is an incredible story, sometimes sad, sometimes wonderful, and often soaked in a mixture of alcohol and genius.
Two Acres of Irish History: A Study Through Time of Friar's Bush and Belfast 1570-1918 by Eamon Phoenix
Paperback; 9.80 IEP / 12.10 USD / 6.95 UK / 12.60 EURO; Ulster Historical Foundation [Add To Basket]Friar's Bush is Belfast's oldest Christian Site. The quality of ancient mystery surrounding this old walled graveyard at Stranmillis has long fascinated historians. There is a tradition of a link with St. Patrick and strong evidence of a medieval friary on the site. It also served as a 'penal refuge' for the local Catholic community up to 1769. This book traces the exciting story of Friar's Bush and Belfast from the rich store of available evidence - artefacts, maps, letters, newspaper reports, ballads and paintings.
The Methodists in Ireland: A Short History by Dudley Levistone Cooney
Paperback; 10.00 IEP / 13.50 USD / 8.50 UK / 14.00 EURO; Columba Press; 280 pages [Add To Basket]This is the story of one of the smaller Christian churches in Ireland from its introduction in the middle of the eighteenth century to the present time. Never numbering much more than 60,000 people, it has made a contribution to the life of the country greater than its numbers would have suggested.
Chronology of Irish History compiled by David Pritchard
Hardback; 9.99 IEP / 12.00 USD / 8.50 UK / 12.70 EURO; Lagan Books, 187 pages [Add To Basket]This book is a concisely written overview of Ireland's major political, cultural and religious trends, presented in an easy-to-use format. This reference work provides essential historical facts, from the arrival of St. Patrick to the present day.
See Dublin on Foot: An Architectural Walking Tour compiled by Julie Craig
Paperback; 7.50 IEP / 9.00 USD / 6.50 UK / 9.55 EURO; Dublin Civic Trust; 76 pages, full colour throughout [Add To Basket]This book is an extensive walking guide to the city of Dublin with selected area maps, descriptions and a unique guide to the best deals in that area. This comprehensive contemporary manual is a must for anyone touring the city on foot.
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