Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 266
Black Operations: The Secret War Against the Real IRA by John Mooney and Michael O'Toole
Hardback; 30.00 Euro / 36.00 USD / 24.00 UK; 330 pages
This book is the definitive account of the Real IRA. The authors have written a chronicle of the secret army using the experiences of the bombers, their families, the victims, the security services and others who worked to stop the violence. The book reads with an urgency and a moral commitment that belongs to the finest fiction. It tells the story from three different perspectives: that of the Read IRA Army Council, that of the security services, and that of the republican victims. Few people will put this book down without understanding the new underground army, its bloody campaign and those who control it.
Racism in the Irish Experience by Steve Garner
Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 17.00 UK; 308 pages [Add To Basket]
Ireland's unique position as the only state in the European Union to have been colonised, coupled with the ambivalent experiences of Irish people within the British Empire, means that issues of 'race' in Ireland are overlaid by complex social and historical forces. This book is a unique analysis of the racialisation of Irish identities. The author examines key phases in the historical development of an Irish 'racial' consciousness, including 16th century colonisation and 19th century immigration to America and Great Britain. He then examines the legacy of this relationship, both in terms of the new migration into Ireland and relations with indigenous minorities - travellers and Irish Jews. The author explores the problematic links between nationalist ideologies and racism. He assesses the economic, social, and political factors framing the experience of minorities in contemporary Ireland and places these in a broader European context.
Time to Listen: Confronting Child Sexual Abuse by Catholic Clergy in Ireland by Helen Goode, Hannah McGee and Ciaran O'Boyle
Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 17.00 UK; 300 pages
The Catholic Church in recent years has been rocked by a series of scandals involving child sexual abuse by members of the clergy. For many, the Church's response to this abuse has been seriously inadequate and there is some question whether the Church can ever regain the trust and affection it enjoyed in years past. This book is the result of the first major assessment internationally by an independent research agency of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Carried out by highly respected researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, the study provides a multifaceted picture of the impact of clerical abuse on the extended Church community. It looks at the historical views of the Church and others on sexual abuse and the challenges of combining Canon Law with the responsibility of the State in dealing with abuse. The researchers interviewed adults who were abused by clergy as children, clergy members who were convicted of abuse (some of whom are still in prison), family members of those abused and abusers, colleagues of abusers, and bishops and delegates with a special responsibility for management of complaints of abuse in dioceses. In addition, a major telephone survey was carried out with members of the general public to ascertain their views on Church management of clerical abuse.
The Meaning Is In The Shadows by Peter McVerry
Paperback; 16.00 Euro / 20.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 170 pages [Add To Basket]
This book is a collection of writings spanning the career of the well-known Irish social campaigner. In 1974, as a newly ordained Jesuit priest, Fr. McVerry chose to live and work in the inner city with a small group from his order. He began working with young people from severely disadvantaged families and communities. Many had dropped out of school, were involved in crime and on a straight road to prison. To a young priest from a middle-class background, the experience was a complete culture shock. It challenged his attitudes, revealed his own prejudices, opened his eyes to what is happening in Ireland's very divided society and called into question his understanding of God. A ministry intended to last a few years became a life-long commitment. This book contains his reflections of these experiences.
RTE and the Globalisation of Irish Television by Farrel Corcoran
Paperback; 24.00 Euro / 28.00 USD / 15.00 UK; 256 pages
As the national publicly owned and funded broadcaster, RTE can lay claim to being the biggest cinema, school, sports stadium, market square, performance stage, town crier and concert hall in Ireland. It sets the agenda for the national conversation that drives modern Ireland. For about 40 years, RTE's radio and television channels have played an enormous role in shaping Irish social and cultural life. This book is a study of the structural transformations now taking place in Irish broadcasting. The book focuses on the television sector generally, but primarily on RTE, as it adjusts to a number of radical changes in the global field of forces whose impact began to accelerate in the mid-1990s.
Maeve de Markievicz: Daughter of Constance by Clive Scoular
Paperback; 12.00 Euro / 15.00 USD / 8.00 UK; 100 pages [Add To Basket]
Maeve was the only child of Constancs and Casimir Markievicz. Her childhood was largely spent, not with her parents, but with her maternal grandmother at the Gore-Booth family home at Lissadell, County Sligo. Maeve's relationship with Constance was an erratic one and, although not actually abandoned by her mother, she soon learned that she would have to fend for herself. She trained as a landscape gardener in England, where she spent most of her adult life. In her last years, she reverted to family type and became an artist. She returned to Ireland and painted scenes of the county Sligo she remembered as a child. This is the first biography of the only child of one of Ireland's foremost women.
Wait Till I Tell You: An Ulster Boyhood by Harry Crone
Paperback; 12.00 Euro / 15.00 USD / 8.00 UK; 110 pages [Add To Basket]
This book is an evocative and captivating account of a boyhood in Ulster from 1904 to 1914. The author captures in words and pictures a world gone by. It is a must for all interested in social history and Irish memoirs.
De Valera's Ireland by Gabriel Doherty and Dermot Keogh
Paperback; 16.00 Euro / 20.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 260 pages [Add To Basket]
The years of influence of de Valera are central to this interpretation of post-independent Ireland. De Valera has been made to should personal responsibility for many of the defects in Irish society in that period. The essays in this book seek to re-examine and re-evaluate that change. Contributors: Owen Dudley Edwards, Sean Farragher, Dermot Keogh, Tom Garvin, Ged Martin, Caitriona Clear, Brian P. Kennedy, John McGahern, Brian Walker, Gearoid O Crualaoich, Gearoid O Tuathaigh and Garret FitzGerald.
Why Not?: Building a Better Ireland edited by Joe Mulholland
Paperback; 10.00 Euro / 12.50 USD / 7.00 UK; 174 pages [Add To Basket]
What has happened to Irish society? Sexual abuse and physical abuse has been laid bare. In spite of unprecedented prosperity and affluence, violence stalks the streets. In every part of the country drugs and alcohol are a threat to the social fabric. Politicians and clergy are held in lost esteem. Does it have to be that way? What can be done to build a better Ireland? Some of the country's leading figures give their views on and analysis of contemporary Ireland and what is needed to create a more civilized society. Contributors: Brian Cowen, Mary Harney, Jim Power, David Begg, Sister Margo Delaney, Phil Hogan, Maureen Gaffney, John Monaghan, Vincent Sharkey, Michele Clarke, Dr. Joe Barry, Tony Geoghegan, Kay O'Hanlon, Most Rev. Willie Walsh, Martin McGuinness, Olwyn Enright, Derek West, Mark Hennessy, John Deasy, John Gormley, Niamh Brennan, Pat Harvey, Mary Coughlan, Sean Gallagher, Deirdre Carroll, John Dolan, Nuala O'Loan, Joe Costello and Michael McDowell.
Blasket Island Reflections
25.00 Euro / 33.00 USD / 19.00 UK; 2 Audio CDs & 52 page illustrated booklet [Add To Basket]
The Great Blasket Island was the unexpected source of a unique literary flowering in the late 1920s and 1930s when a number of islanders produced autobiographies describing their precarious existence. The immediate success of these books in the Irish language was followed by international acclaim when translated into English and other languages. Even as their books were bring written, the difficult and dangerous life they described was heading towards the final evacuation of the dwindling island community in 1953. RTE Radio's Blasket Island Reflections documentary series brings a modern perspective to the writings of the most celebrated island authors, their books and the history of the island and its evacuation.
The Abbey Theatre: Ireland's National Theatre the First 100 Years by Christopher Fitz-Simon
Trade Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 208 pages, with photos throughout [Add To Basket]
Dublin's Abbey Theatre opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Over the course of the ensuing century, it survived fire, riot and perpetual artistic disagreement to become one of the greatest theatres in the Western world, presenting over 740 new plays by some of the greatest Irish writers of the modern age, including W.B. Yeats, J.M. Synge, Sean O'Casey and Brian Friel. In this book, the author celebrates the Abbey Theatre's centenary by offering a witty chronological survey of the company's distinguished and colourful history. Beautifully illustrated with cartoons, sketches and production photographs from the Abbey archives and elsewhere, the book provides an unparalleled overview of the great actors, directors and playwrights of 20th century Irish theatre, as well as detailing the company's long and illustrious relationship with other European and American theatres and playwrights. It also contains a complete list of plays produced at the Abbey Theatre since 1904 and features a preface by the Abbey Theatre's current artistic director, Ben Barnes. With 179 illustrations, 19 in colour.
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