Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 199
Anti-Catholicism in Northern Ireland 1600-1998: The Mote and the Beam by John D. Brewer and Gareth I. Higgins
Paperback; 35.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 25.00 UK; Macmillan, 248 pages [Add To Basket]
This book provides an authoritative and topical assessment of four centuries of religious strife in Northern Ireland and presents proposals for better intercommunity relations in the future. Part of the dynamics to Northern Ireland's conflict is the belief that there is a Scriptural basis to anti-Catholicism. It forms part of the self-defining identity of certain Protestants and inhibits reconciliation between the two communities by suggesting that divisions are upheld by theological doctrine. The roots of sectarianism thus lie partly in claims about theology. Anti-Catholicism, however, is a sociological process, given a Scriptural underpinning in the history of Protestant-Catholic relations in Ireland, and wider British-Irish relations, in order to reinforce social divisions between the religious communities and to offer a deterministic belief system to justify them. Scripture was appropriated to justify social divisions in a particular historical and social context, so that anti-Catholicism must be understood sociologically as well as theologically. The book examines the socio-economic and political processes that have led to theology being used in social closure and stratification between the seventeenth century and the present day.
The Boys: A Biography of Micheal MacLiammoir and Hilton Edwards by Christopher Fitz-Simon
Paperback; 12.99 Euro / 11.99 USD / 10.99 UK; New Island, 320 pages, with 2 x 8 page b/w photo inserts [Add To Basket]
Originally published in 1994, this classic double biography of Micheal MacLiammoir and his life-long lover Hilton Edwards, tells the story of two men, initially unhappy in their own lives and origins, who fell passionately in love with each other, with Ireland, and with Orson Welles, and gave Ireland the Gate Theatre, one of her truly great theatre companies. The book is also an important story about the making of modern Ireland.
Home Before Night by Hugh Leonard
Paperback; 14.40 Euro / 13.50 USD / 12.50 UK; Methuen, 195 pages [Add To Basket]
Originally published in 1979, Hugh Leonard's classic, delightful autobiographical evocation of his Dublin childhood in the 1930s and 1940s is crammed with people and conversations, rich in poetry, full of love, laughter and rare pleasures.
Out of After Dark by Hugh Leonard
Paperback; 14.40 Euro / 13.50 USD / 12.50 UK; Methuen, 211 pages [Add To Basket]
Originally published in 1989, this classic sequel to 'Home Before Night' is an irresistibly rich and entertaining memoir of a Dublin adolescence in the 1940s and 1950s. This volumes travels from schooldays and alter-boyhood to early bliss at the Astoria and problems with Gloria and Dolores; and finally to the beginnings of a career that would establish its author as one of Ireland's foremost playwrights.
Communion by Aidan Mathews
Paperback; 14.40 Euro / 13.50 USD / 12.50 UK; Hern, 78 pages [Add To Basket]
This play is about two brothers, one family, and the many faiths that make up modern life. Jordan, the firstborn son, is terminally ill with a brain tumour that has darkened his later twenties; Marcus, the scapegrace second child, is mentally ill with manic depression that has been treated for years. Their widowed mother, Martha, presides austerely over a household what is almost a home, giving her heart and soul to Jordan, her time and attention to Marcus. Although outsiders pollinate the place - a benign Methodist neighbour, a Roman Catholic priest, a Church of Ireland girlfriend - they fill the sickroom with the emptiness.
A Place Too Small for Secrets by Paddy Kennelly
Paperback; 9.95 Euro / 8.50 USD / 7.50 UK; Marino Press, 221 pages [Add To Basket]
The fictional Kerry village of Knockore teems with a cast of characters worthy of Shakespeare: from the pubs to the marriage bed and the football field, all human life is here. Through vivid characterisation and an often breathtaking turn of phrase, the author of this verse novel brings to life the village's wayward youths, its adulterers, chancers and cuckolds, and even a few upstanding citizens. He casts a tender eye on both the heartbreak of loss and the thrill of love - and the unforeseen consequences of lust. This tale of village life, told in the voices of its various inhabitants, is comic but unsentimental, and at all times the realities of life in rural Ireland lie just below the surface. In short, this novel in poetry is an Irish 'Under Milk Wood.'
Changing Women, Changing Worlds: Evangelical Women in Church, Community and Politics by Fran Porter
Trade Paperback; 16.20 Euro / 14.50 USD / 12.00 UK; Blackstaff Press, 253 pages [Add To Basket]
This book contains indepth interviews with evangelical women in Northern Ireland and provides a remarkable insight into their involvement in church, community and politics. A more engaged participation in all aspects of society is part of the overall change in the position of women, along with an ongoing challenge to the attitudes and practices that previously kept them in the background. As they become increasingly involved in church, community and political life, evangelical women face a number of issues. This book explores these questions of participation, inclusion, difference, authority, domesticity and priority and considers their implications for churches, evangelicalism and civic society.
Your Life Only a Gazillion Times Better by Cathy Breslin and Judy May Murphy
Trade Paperback; 12.95 Euro / 11.50 USD / 10.00 UK; Obrien Press, 160 pages [Add To Basket]
This is a book on life coaching for everyone - Irish style! It assists the readers in finding the power within and living life a 'gazillion' times better. It is a refreshing, fun and enlightening exploration of self-discovery, dream life, goal fixing, careers and health, money maters and fantastic relationships.
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