Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 278
Faithful Departed: The Dublin of James Joyce’s Ulysses by Kieran Hickey
Trade Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 17.50 USD / 11.00 UK; 78 pages.
‘How many! All these here once walked around Dublin. Faithful departed.’ These were the thoughts of Leopold Bloom in Joyce’s Ulysses when Patrick Dignam was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery. The day was Thursday, 16 June 1904. In this book, first published in 1982, the late Kieran Hickey has assembled a stunning collection of little-known photographs by Robert French. In these haunting images the departed walk into our vision once again. Here are the spacious avenues and crowded backstreets of Joyce’s Dublin, populated by every manner of person – the well-heeled professional classes; RIC constables and British army officers on parade; women with perambulators; street vendors and gangs of urchins. These photographs potently evoke the Dublin of 1904 – a city of trams and horse-drawn carriages, of sailing ships and barges on the River Liffey, and of lively bandstands in summer. Complemented by Des Hickey’s piquant introduction, they recreate the very atmosphere of Joyce’s Bloomsday.
A Bloomsday Postcard by Niall Murphy
Trade Paperback; 20.00 Euro / 24.00 USD / 15.00 UK; 320 pages [Add To Basket]
The sending, receiving and collecting of postcards was an essential part of life in Edwardian Dublin. In an age of few private telephones, the postcard was a popular and reliable form of communication – in Dublin there were six mail deliveries a day and one on Sunday. To celebrate the centenary of Bloomsday, Nial Murphy has assembled a dazzling selection of 250 postcards, all of them posted in the Dublin are during 1904, four of them sent on 16 June.
Here are the messages of ordinary people who walked the streets of Dublin side-by-side with the characters of Ulysses, their words eerily mirroring the novel’s events. There is a rescue from drowning in Kingstown, crime and punishment in Grafton Street, the Great Storm of 1903, King Edward’s visit, and memories of a ‘departed day’ spent in Howth. Among the tales of courtship, three are enacted in varying degrees of intimacy echoing Joyce’s use of postcards to establish the blossoming romance between Bloom’s daughter Milly and Alec Bannon.
Published in association with the National Library of Ireland, this book features the work of legendary postcard artists: Louis Wain’s strange human cats; Lance Thackery’s satires of upper-class life; and C. Dana Gibson’s exquisite drawings of beautiful women. Here also are cards that depict the Russo-Japanese War, Yukon goldminers, the Dublin Horse Show and turf-sutters in Connemara, creating a mesmerizing colour mosaic that brings to life Joyce’s Bloomsday as never before.
Golden Ages and Barbarous Nations: Antiwuarian Debate and Cultural Politics in Ireland, c. 1750-1800 by Clare O’Halloran
Trade Paperback; 30.00 Euro / 35.00 USD / 24.00 UK; 272 pages
This book is the first major study of Irish antiquarian and historical writing during the turbulent second half of the eighteenth century. It sets Irish writing in a broad European focus, examining the influence of key cultural developments, such as orientalism, primitivism and the vogue for Ossian. The intention is to show the complex ways in which Irish cultural politics in this period was open to, and interacted with, British, imperial and wider European Enlightenment trends.
Where to Watch Birds in Ireland and Britain by David Tipling
Hardback; 25 Euro / 30.00 USD / 17.00 UK; 176 pages, with full colour illustrations throughout. [Add To Basket]
This book covers over 300 of the most interesting and popular birding sites in Ireland and Britain, making it ideal for all levels of birdwatchers. It contains site information on the habitat, the size, the key bird species you are likely to find throughout the year, how to get there and the facilities available. The sites are divided up into all areas of Ireland and Britain, enabling you to pinpoint which part of the countries you want to visit. Large area maps at the beginning of each section who where each site is located, along with more detailed maps for those sites given special treatment.
Irish Birds by Paul Hillis
Paperback; 5 Euro / 6.00 USD / 4.00 UK; full colour throughout
This Irish Heritage Series books concentrates on some of the more interesting bird species found in Ireland.
A Beginner’s Guide to Ireland’s Seashore
Paperback; 7.50 Euro / 9.00 USD / 5.00 UK; 208 pages, full colour throughout [Add To Basket]
With the help of this pocket book, beginners of all ages will be able to explore the wonders of marine life found on the shores around Ireland. The guide includes colour photographs of plants and animals; the Common, Scientific and Irish names; clear and simple descriptions, including colour, size, habitat and location on the shore; an introduction to each group, with illustrations, highlighting important features; information on different types of shore.
Hostage: Notorious Irish Kidnappings by Paul Howard
Paperback; 12.00 Euro / 14.50 USD / 8.50 UK; 252 pages [Add To Basket]
This book contains the inside accounts of Ireland’s most famous abduction cases. When bank jobs became too risky and art heists came to nothing, the IRA hit on a simpler and more profitable way of making money: kidnapping. This book reveals the stories behind these abductions: Shergar – the full transcripts of the negotiation from the Epsom Derby winner; Ben Dunne – Fr. Dermod McCarthy tells for the first time the astonishing story of his meeting with the IRA on the border and his bid to get his friend released; Dr. Tiede Herrema – talks of the relationship with his kidnapper, Eddie Gallagher, and his bitterness over the deal that was never honoured; Lord & Lady Donoughmore – the peer’s unpublished diary of their kidnap ordeal, and why his son believes he never gave the police the full facts; Don Tidey – an IRA source reveals serious doubts about the kidnapping, and the price the organization paid for its failure. The book also covers the tragic death of hostage Thomas Niedermayer, and how the Gardai foiled the attempt to kidnap billionaire Galen Weston.
The Dublin Fire Bridage by Tom Geraghty and Trevor Whitehead
Paperback; 20.00 Euro / 24.00 USD / 15.00 UK; 320 pages [Add To Basket]
This book is the first complete history of the Dublin Fire Brigade. It is the story of the dedicated fire-fighters, officers and ambulance personnel who provide emergency services to the people of Ireland’s capital city. Significant events include the 1916 Rising, the War of Independence, the North Strand Bombing and Dublin Fire Brigade’s famous drive north of the border to fight the Belfast Blitz in 1941. The book is fully illustrated in colour and black-and-white, with many photographs published here for the first time. Also available in hardback priced at 40 Euro
Stories of the Celtic Soul Friends by Edward Sellner
Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 20.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 260 pages [Add To Basket]
This book introduces the reader to the ancient tradition of the Celtic ‘anamchara’ or soul friend and the significant stories associated with it. Here, punctuated by the stimulating stories of the four leaders of the early Celtic church – St. Patrick, St. Brigit, St. Columcille, as well as the relatively obscure St. Colman of Land Ela – the author traces, celebrates and demonstrates the tradition’s immediacy to our own faith, lives and work.
The Miseducation Years of Ross O’Carroll Kelly by Paul Howard
Paperback; 11.00 Euro / 12.50 USD / 8.00 UK; 246 pages [Add To Basket]
A publishing phenomenon in Ireland, the Ross O’Carroll Kelly series commenced in 2000 with this book, here totally revised and updated so there’s basically loads more to tell about Ross’s legendary school days, his endless conquests, his rugby glory and his French exchange! In the tradition of Flann O’Brien and other great Irish comic writers.
Ulysses by Margot Norris
Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 17.50 USD / 11.00 UK; 102 pages [Add To Basket]
James Joyce, interested in drama from his youth, encountered early Italian cinema in Trieste and subsequently worked to establish the first movie-house in Dublin in 1909. He eventually discussed his cinematographic writing techniques with the great Russian filmmaker, Sergei Eisenstein. Although Joyce considered the possibilities of filming his famous 1922 novel at various times in his life, Ulysses was not brought to the screen until independent filmmaker Joseph Strick released his adaptation in 1967. The author of this book discusses the challenges that Ulysses posed to the filmmaker, along with the production and censorship problems that Strickland encountered before the film was released to great contemporary critical acclaim. Though rigorously faithful to Joyce’s language, Strick’s decision to set the story in 1960s Dublin subtly shifted its political focus while producing an intensified humanistic interpretation of Joyce’s novel.
The Trigger Men by Martin Dillon
Paperback; 12.50 Euro / 15.00 USD / 8.00 UK; 320 pages [Add To Basket]
In this book the author delves into the dark and sinister world of Irish terrorism and counter-terrorism. He takes the reader into a labyrinth of terrorist cells, ruthless assassins, influential figures in the shadows, bombers, political crooks and manipulators. There are fanatics and sadists steeped in hatred and revenge, as well as British double agents and secret Military Intelligence units. Many unspeakable acts of cruelty are committed not only by the terrorists but also by those who ordered them to kill – the men in the background who pulled the emotional triggers. The author renders penetrating insights into the mindsets of all his subjects. He examines their social and historical conditioning and their unquestioning loyalty to a political or religious ideology. Individual stories unravel in a gripping, unflinching narrative, revealing the ghastly nature of conflict. The author also explores the cult of the gunman and bomber, and how the British recruited paedophiles and terrorists to wage terror.
Gregory Carr, Bookseller
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