Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 268
A Very British Jihad: Collusion, Conspiracy and Cover-up in Northern Ireland by Paul Larkin
Trade Paperback; 20.00 Euro / 25.00 USD / 15.00 UK; 314 pages
In April 2003, the Stevens Report provided the first official acknowledgement of collusion between loyalist armed groups and British security forces in the murders of nationalists in Northern Ireland. Yet, as this book demonstrates, such collusion and associated conspiracies have been a central feature of the British response to the conflict in Ireland for more than 30 years. That response, argues the author, amounts to a Holy War, or Jihad, in the name of Protestantism and the British monarchy. That war has been swarthed in secrecy and denial, protected by notions of 'national security' that pervade every corner of the legal system and the political establishment of Britain.
The author is an award-winning investigative journalist. He made the first of many investigative films for the BBC Northern Ireland's current affairs programme, Spotlight, in February 1989, about the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane. Since then he has covered other controversial killings, Royal Ulster Constabulary cover-ups, the burgeoning illicit drugs trade, the role of informers and agents, and the notorious Portadown based 'ratpack'. He has also produced a special investigation into the Dublin/Monaghan bombings for Irish television.
The research for these films is the raw material of his book. Building on his investigations, he presents a detailed, revealing and quite frightening account of many aspects of Britain's 'dirty war' in Ireland, and also provides a unique insight into the dangers and political pressures facing journalists who dare to investigate the unsavoury relationships between the intelligence agencies, politicians, the police, the British Army and loyalism.
John B. (Keane) by Gus Smith and Des Hickey
Trade Paperback; 16.00 Euro / 21.00 USD / 10.50 UK; 352 pages [Add To Basket]
John B. Keane, playwright, poet and fiction writer, was born in Listowel, Co. Kerry in 1928 and died in his hometown on 30 May, 2002. In this biography, the authors chart the progress and Keane's drama - and its reception by critics and the public - and explore the man behind his work. John B.'s beloved wife Mary, his family and his many friends in Listowel have contributed their memories and their opinions of one of the great Irish writers of his generation. The highs and lows of John B.'s personal life too play their part, and his sometimes controversial opinions on the issues of the day.
Poems from the Irish edited by Gabriel Fitzmaurice
Paperback; 13.00 Euro / 18.50 USD / 8.00 UK; 192 pages.
This book is a dual-language anthology of poetry. Old favourites and cutting edge contemporary poets sit easily together in this dual-language collection of Irish poetry from the seventeenth-century to the present day. Irish originals stand alongside Fitzmaurice's masterful translations of the work of such poets as Mairtin O Direain, Sean O Riordain, Maire Mhac an tSaoi, Aogan O Rathaille, Michael Davitt and Cathal O Searchaigh.
Primate Robinson 1709-94 by A.P.W. Malcomson
Trade Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 20.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 76 pages [Add To Basket]
Richard Robinson, archbishop of Armagh, 1765-94, remains an inscrutable figure. His primacy has been associated with a new era in Church of Ireland history, characterized by a greater concentration on ecclesiastical and opposed to political affairs, and by an emphasis on building, improvement and regeneration. In the absence of a surviving Robinson archive, and in the face of a personality which seems to have geared itself to giving as little as possible away, it is difficult to confirm or deny this popular assessment. But Dr. Malcomson, who draws in this book on new evidence not of Robinson provenance, suggests that a reassessment is necessary. He argues that Robinson was not so much a man who stood above politics as a poor politician, and that he failed to give the Church the political leadership that was required of the primate. The author also questions the actual extent of Robinson's vaunted munificence, the importance of his personal contribution to the building of modern Armagh, and the architectural quality of some of his buildings. The picture that emerges is of a cold, proud and distant figure, conscious of his primatial dignity, jealous of rivalry, and possessive of the material benefits of his situation.
The Burial at Thebes: Sophocles' Antigone translated by Seamus Heaney
Hardback; 20.00 Euro / 25.00 USD / 15.00 UK;
Commissioned to mark the centenary of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 2004, The Burial at Thebes is Seamus Heaney's new translation of Sophocles' great tragedy, Antigone, whose eponymous heroine is one of the most sharply individualized and compelling figures in western drama. Faithful to the 'local row' and to the fierce specificity of the play's time and place, The Burial at Thebes honours the separate and irreconcilable claims of its opposed voices, as they enact the ancient but perennial conflict between family and state in a time of crisis, pitching the morality of private allegiance against that of public service. Above all, The Burial at Thebes honours the sovereign urgency and grandeur of the Antigone, in which language speaks truth to power, then and now.
Brendan Kennelly: A Host of Ghosts by John McDonagh
Paperback; 17.50 Euro / 22.00 USD / 11.50 UK; 168 pages [Add To Basket]
Brendan Kennelly is one of Ireland's most important poets whose prolific output extends to over forty volumes of poetry since the publication of his first poetic work in 1959. This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the broad corpus of his writing. Kennelly's work relies principally upon his unflinching desire to unmask the ideologies that underpin many aspects of Irish life. He does this by adopting a series of narrative voices, his collections combing contemporary Irish society to find the important connections between language and identity, history and national character, and the individual and the collective consciousness. At all times Kennelly aspires to clarity of thought, memory and image and his poetry consistently retains an accessibility and expression that appeals to an ever-increasing audience.
A Guide to Irish Military Heritage by Brian Hanley
Trade Paperback; 17.50 Euro / 22.00 USD / 11.50 UK; 118 pages [Add To Basket]
In the twentieth-century alone, Irish men and women fought in two world wars, a revolution and a civil war in Ireland itself, in the armies of Britain and the Commonwealth, the United States, and on both side in the Boer War and Spanish Civil War; additionally they engaged in numerous peacekeeping missions with the United Nations. This guide is designed to assist those who wish to know more about this dimension of Irish history. It lists archives and libraries and institutions that hold source material, and provides contact details. It also catalogues the museums, heritage sites and battlefields that are accessible to the public. It also contains a comprehensive bibliography of Irish military heritage and a guide to Irish military sources on-line.
Granuaile: Ireland's Pirate Queen by Anne Chambers
Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 20.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 206 pages [Add To Basket]
Over 400 years ago, Granuaile became a legend. As both Pirate Queen and Gaelic Chieftain, Granuaile (or Grace O'Malley), challenged the accepted ideas of sixteenth century Ireland. She manipulated the turbulent political environment, ignoring cultural conventions, to become one of the most powerful leaders in the country. The invading English also talked about this 'most famous feminine sea captain.' The meeting of the two Queens, Granuaile and Elizabeth I, ensured that the legend grew until Granuaile became celebrated as one of the most notorious Irishwomen in Elizabethan England. Using State papers and manuscripts of the period, the author reveals the woman behind the legend and the unique contribution she made to Irish history.
Midlife Irish by Frank Gannon
Trade Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 20.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 245 pages [Add To Basket]
Immigrants Bernard and Annie Gannon never talked about their Irish past. So when Francis Xavier Gannon was growing up in 1950s New Jersey, his parents' native land was but a dim, distant mystery. Today Frank Gannon is a middle-aged, irreverent Catholic who prefers Bruce Springsteen to Celtic Moods, can't dance a jig, and hates eating potatoes. Does that make him a bad Irish-American? Or a typical one? With both parents dead, there's only one place Gannon could go to answer this question and find the missing pieces of his own heritage - Eire. In a moving and uniquely entertaining memoir, the author uncovers a 21st century Ireland full of beauty and paradox. And he offers a stirring, poignant yet often hilarious look at the bonds of family, and - from the Garden State Parkway to the wave-battered cliffs of the Emerald Isle - the ties of home.
Dictionary of Irish Quotations by Sean Sheehan
Paperback; 10.00 Euro / 13.00 USD / 7.00 UK; 120 pages [Add To Basket]
This book contains a highly enjoyable and varied selection of interesting, informative, intriguing, infuriating - and sometimes just witty - remarks made by Irish people on a number of topical subjects. The quotations range from the fifth century to the present day.
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