Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 215
Royal Roots Republican Inheritance: The Survival of the Office of Arms by Susan Hood
Trade Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 15.00 UK; Woodfield Press, 285 pages [Add To Basket]
This book is the absorbing story of the Office of Arms - Ireland's heraldic authority - and the oldest Office of the State. Founded in 1552, and derived from an earlier medieval heraldry based on the traditions of sovereigns and members of the nobility, today the Office has a much wider relevance, providing heraldic services for Irish people and institutions throughout the world. This book is the history of its remarkable survival during the last 150 years, when it bridged the transition from Crown Government to Republican State. The transfer of the Office to the Irish Government was delayed for over 20 years after Independence was secured in 1922. It became, in fact, the last office to pass from British to Irish control, as late as 1943. This is just one of the fascinating episodes of the story. Others include fresh insight on the infamous theft of the 'Irish Crown Jewels', in 1907; the Office's politically anomalous position in the Free State, when, in 1924, it designed and registered the arms of Northern Ireland; as well as its more recent international significance, including the design of the European flag, in 1954; arms for President John F. Kennedy, in 1961; and heraldic research for thousands of the Irish diaspora.
Government and Politics of Northern Ireland by Margery McMahon
Paperback; 13.50 Euro / 15.00 USD / 8.00 UK; Colourpoint Press, 95 pages [Add To Basket]
This book is a comprehensive guide to the new political structures put in place by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. The book covers all aspects of the current political framework, from the day-to-day operation of the Assembly and Executive to the role played by the North/South Ministerial Council and the British-Irish Council. There is also explanation and analysis of the equality legislation and reforms in policing that have followed in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement. This core information is placed in its historical context, with a review of the history of the main political parties and the Northern Ireland state itself, leading to the historic settlement achieved in 1998.
No Earthly Estate: God and Patrick Kavanagh: An Anthology by Tom Stack
Hardback; 20.00 Euro / 23.00 USD / 13.50 UK; Columba Press, 239 pages [Add To Basket]
As poets go, Patrick Kavanagh (1904-67) enjoys an exceptionally popular and influential place in the hearts of the Irish public. He offers the reader a uniquely distilled reflection of ourselves as a people and uncovers for us an intriguing spiritual landscape, both rich and recognizable. In this, his poetry is both original and enduring. It is noteworthy that in Kavanagh's extant work of published poems, which number 253, no fewer than 138 of these include explicitly religious themes, images or allusions. This means that reference to Christian faith, in one way or another, make their appearances in more than half of all his poetic writing. It is for this reason that this collection of poems appears as an anthology in its own write. The book also contains a 30-page introduction by the compiler setting the poems in their context.
The Glenstal Book of Icons: Praying with the Glenstal Icons by Gregory Collins
Hardback; 15.00 Euro / 16.50 USD / 11.50 UK; Columba; 137 pages [Add To Basket]
This handsome book contains prayers and meditations on a selection of icons from the Abbey's Byzantine chapel. Drawing on the popular monastic practice of 'lectio divinia', the icons themselves are seen as 'texts' giving rise to meditation on the Christian mysteries. This leads to acts of prayer, in which special emphasis is placed on the famous 'Jesus Prayer', discussed in detail in the introduction to the book. Thus the icons and the Jesus Prayer become a point of entry to the mystical spirituality of Easter Christianity. The book's aim is that of the icon itself: to open the heart in contemplative prayer to the transforming vision of God's glory. Each icon is reproduced in full colour. This book is a companion volume to last year's Glenstal Book of Prayer, which was a phenomenal bestseller and remains available, also in hardback.
From Union to Union: Nationalism, Democracy and Religion in Ireland - Act of Union to Eu by Brian Girvin
Hardback; 40.00 Euro / 46.00 USD / 27.00 UK; Gill & Macmillan; 278 pages [Add To Basket]
From the Act of Union in 1800 onward, nationalism was central to Irish life. It reached its apogee between 1922 and 1945 when the Irish Free State was established. During this time Irish politicians attempted to give institutional form to nationalist values. After 1945, Irish nationalism gradually exhausted itself and reached a crisis of identity during the late 1950s. The author sees the original application by the Republic of Ireland to join the European Union in 1961 as the end of one phrase of a nationalist adventure that had begun 160 years earlier. Nationalism did not disappear after 1961, but politics in the Irish Republic focused on economic development and modernisation and only returned to more traditional forms of nationalism for a brief period when violence erupted in Northern Ireland after 1969. This book surveys two centuries of Irish life and brings a cool and provocative analytical eye to the gap between rhetoric and reality.
Collected Short Stories by Michael McLaverty
Hardback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 15.00 UK; Blackstaff Press, 293 pages [Add To Basket]
This book is a handsome illustrated edition of the short fiction of an Irish writer who has been favorably compared to Chekhov. One of Ireland's most distinguished short story writers, McLaverty wrote with acute precision and intensity of the northern landscapes of his homeland - the lonely hill farms, rough island terrain and the tight backstreets of Belfast. Focusing on moments of passion, wonder or bitter disenchantment in lives that are a continuous struggle towards the light, these stories, in the compassion of the tone and the spare purity of the language, are nothing short of masterly. Illustrated with specially commissioned wood engravings by Barbara Childs, and including an introduction by Seamus Heaney and a foreword by Sophia Hilton.
Angels by Marian Keyes
Hardback; 20.00 Euro / 23.00 USD / 13.50 UK; Poolbeg Press, 482 pages [Add To Basket]
This novel is a captivating tale of Maggie Walsh and her antics in L.A., city of valet parking, ten varieties of low-cal mineral water and where a run on Ben & Jerry's ice cream would be termed a crime wave. Unlike the rest of her family, Maggie has always done the right thing - that is, until the day she leaves her husband and takes refuge with her friend Emily, a screenwriter in Los Angeles. Soon Maggie is doing things she 's never done before, such as wearing sunglasses in the shower, lighting fires for film stars, pitching scripts to studios, and more. Including meeting the mysterious Troy, a man so non-stick he's known as Human Teflon. This book follows Maggie on her irrepressible journey of discovery, from suburbia to suntan, taking in some heartache and lots of martinis along the way.
In the Way of the Family by Bill O'Connor
Paperback; 8.99 Euro / 11.50 USD / 7.00 UK; Brookside; 324 pages [Add To Basket]
Inventive, fast-paced and funny, this novel is crime-comedy at its finest. When ex-newshound Bill Barlow heads off to the West of Ireland to write a bestseller, he thinks he's in for a peaceful, easy life. But a short visit to his New York-based offspring ends up in mayhem and madness, as Barlow's detective son, Gerry, falls for the beautiful daughter of a leading Mafioso, and ends up at the centre of a video sting against a US Senator that goes sorely wrong. Gerry and his mobster moll go underground, and Barlow is the only one who knows their whereabouts. Before long, he too is on the run from the Big Apple's deadliest gangsters. This book is a hilarious crime caper with an unforgettable cast of characters.
Read Ireland Bookstore
392 Clontarf Road
Clontarf, Dublin 3
Ireland
Tel + Fax: +353-18-302-997
Customer Services Comments, Criticism and Questions
Subscribe to Read Ireland Book News - Our Free Weekly Email Newsletter