Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 211
King's Inn and the Battle of the Books, 1972 by Colum Kenny
Hardback; 40.00 Euro / 44.00 USD / 30.00 UK; Four Courts Press, 194 pages [Add To Basket]
In this book, the author recalls a major cultural controversy that marked the recognition of the King's Inn Library as an important part of the heritage of modern Ireland. In 1972, thousands of non-law books from King's Inn were sold at Sotheby's in London. The row that ensued involved many well-known people including Cearbhall O Dalaigh, Mary Robinson, and Charles Haughey. The sale was criticised as the 'random dispersal of an irreplaceable collection' and it raises vital questions about the proper care of libraries, about the relationship of general knowledge to professional expertise and about the problematic nature of Irish identity in a post-colonial era. The books were sold because the society of King's Inn was in financial difficulty, a difficulty exacerbated by the fact that the benchers had recently renovated their kitchen. The government was kept informed by the benchers of their plans but failed to respond to a proposal that might have resulted in all of the volumes remaining in Ireland. The author sets the events of 1972 in their historical context, giving an account of the foundation and subsequent growth of the library itself.
St. Anne's: The Story of a Guinness Estate by Joan Ussher Sharkey
Trade paperback; 20.00 Euro / 22.00 USD / 15.00 UK; Woodfield Press, 117 pages [Add To Basket]
The author, a local historian who grew up in Clontarf, tells for the first time how St. Anne's was created, detailing what followed Benjamin Lee Guinness's purchase in 1835 of a house in Clontarf called Thornhill. This book, with its original maps and many illustrations of the mansion and its world famous gardens, brings the reader inside the now vanished world of St. Anne's demesne, once the scene of glittering balls and garden parties. It also tells how it became the great recreational resource it is today - a calming oasis of green, still rich in reminders of a bygone age.
Mud Island: A History of Ballybough edited by Noelle Dowling
Trade paperback; 14.50 Euro / 15.50 USD / 10.00 UK; Heritage Council, 198 pages [Add To Basket]
For the past number of year, participants in the Allen Library FAS Project have been studying the history of the area surrounding Croke Park. This book is a result of their work. It is an important addition to the list of many fine local histories of age-old neighbourhoods in the greater Dublin area to appear in recent years. It is the first serious attempt to tell the story of Ballybough, which formed a distinctive part of the city from ancient times to the present day. Numerous photos throughout.
The Book of Tara by Michael Slavin
Large Format Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 15.75 USD / 10.25 UK; Wolfhound Press, 173 pages [Add To Basket]
In this book, the fascinating Hill of Tara and its demesne are made accessible to the general reader. With an eclectic use of wide-ranging sources, the author combines anthropology, archaeology, ancient, medieval and modern day history with geography, geology, legend, myth and local folklore. He draws from scholarship across the centuries, right up to the very latest archaeological finds made during the 1990s investigations of the Hill. Wonderful colour photographs capture the pagan moods of Tara. Celtic monuments, Viking artifacts, Norman castles, and contemporary clanspeople are portrayed among the many black-and-white photographs. The last chapter contains a walkabout guide, so visitors to Tara can follow the author's favorite route.
Traveller's Guide to Sacred Ireland by Cary Meehan
Paperback; 30.00 Euro / 31.50 USD / 21.00 UK; Gothic Image Press, 712 pages [Add To Basket]
This book is an essential companion for all those interested in Ireland's history, mythology and folklore. Ireland possesses such a vast number of ancient sites that most of them remain unknown and all but forgotten except by those who live nearby. This book offers directions to some 800 sited on the entire island of Ireland. Here are simple wells and stones that are still regarded as places of pilgrimage to the local people. Here also are sites of national importance, holy mountains, lakes and rivers created by giants and protected by fairies; ancient churches, round towers, high crosses and beautiful cathedrals built on sites held sacred for thousands of years. The author has explored these sites and reveals their secrets in historical and archaeological detail, the legends and folklore as well as the current information on earth energies relating to the sacred nature of these sites.
Evelyn: A True Story by Evelyn Doyle
Hardback; 16.99 Euro / 18.00 USD / 14.00 UK; Orion, 196 pages [Add To Basket]
Ireland 1953. Desmond Doyle, a painter and decorator, is married with six children and living in the infamous Fatima Mansions in Dublin. When his wife deserts him, Desmond's world falls apart and he is advised to put his children in the care of State industrial schools as a temporary measure while he goes to England to find work. Upon his return, he discovers, to his horror, that his children have been consigned to State care until they reach the age of sixteen. Over the next year, Desmond and his solicitors wage a groundbreaking and highly publicised court battle against the Irish legal system to overturn the Children Act of 1941 and bring the children home. Told through the eyes of Evelyn, Desmond's nine-year-old daughter, this book is the heartrending true story of one man's battle to change the law and reunite the family he loves.
Tain Way Map Guide
Map; 6.00 Euro / 7.00 USD / 5.00 UK; EastWest Mapping. [Add To Basket]
The Tain Way is a way-marked long distance walking route making a circuit of the Cooley peninsula in County Louth. It is 39 kilometres (about 24 miles) in length. There is a total ascent of 1,150 metres (about 3,800 feet) over the whole walk. The maps in this guide show the walking route in detail, along with services such as shops and accommodation enroute. Four additional walks are suggested for those who wish to sample a shorter walk.
Inchicore, Kilmainham and District by Seosamh O Broin
Trade Paperback; 20.00 Euro / 22.00 USD / 17.50 UK; Heritage Council, 310 pages [Add To Basket]
This is a local history that concerns an area where, over the centuries, many of the varied threads of Ireland's story have come together. Inchicore and Kilmainham have contributed significantly to the political, religious, military and industrial history of the City of Dublin
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