Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 281
GUBU Nation: Grotesque Unbelievable Bizarre Unprecedented Happenings in Ireland by Damian Corless
Paperback; 12.00 Euro / 13.50 USD / 9.00 UK; 310 pages
When a suspected double-murderer is found at the home of Ireland’s Attorney General, that’s GUBU! When the Irish public are told that a fact sheet will help them survive nuclear fallout, that’s GUBU! This book is the result of countless hours spent rummaging down the back of posterity’s sofa. Gone but not forgotten –not anymore – are the strange case of the Hare Krishnas and the drugged ice cream, the mass protests that met Ireland’s first staging of Eurovision, the brief phenomenon of Toni the Exotic Dancer and many other uniquely Irish happenings and events. Featuring over 50 tales of the unexpected, the vaguely familiar and the plain ludricrous, this book is GUBU!
The Irish Game: A True Story of Crime and Art by Matthew Hart
Trade Paperback; 14.00 Euro / 17.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 220 pages [Add To Basket]
Vermeer, Goya, Rembrandt, Rubens – the Beit art collection was worth millions. For twenty-one years, Sir Alfred and Lady Beit lived peacefully at Russborough House in Ireland. Then people starting stealing their paintings. In this book the author tells the riveting story of the theft and recovery of some of the world’s most important art, finding new leads and unexpected connections in the mysterious underworld of international art crime. From the 1974 burglary of Russborough by IRA-sympathiser Rose Dugdale to the break-in twelve years later by Dublin’s most notorious gangster, Martin ‘The General’ Cahill, the author follows the fortunes of Sir Alfred’s stolen paintings as they passed from hand to hand, or lay hidden in the Wicklow mountains.
The Kingdom of Ireland, 1641-1760 by Toby Barnard
Trade Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 206 pages
In this book the author examines the Catholics’ attempt to regain control of their own affairs in Ireland from the Protestants, first in the 1640s and then again between 1689 and 1691. The book outlines how military defeats doomed the Catholics to subjection, allowing Protestants to tighten their grip over the government. It studies in detail the mechanisms – both national and local – through which Protestant control was exercised. Focusing on the provinces as well as Dublin, and on the subjects as well as the rulers, the author draws on an abundance of unfamiliar evidence to offer unparalleled insights into Irish lives during a troubled period.
Well Dreams: Essays on John Montague edited by Thomas Dillon Redshaw
Trade Paperback; 30.00 Euro / 35.00 USD / 24.00 UK; 444 pages [Add To Basket]
This book gathers twenty-one essays on the poetry and fiction of John Montague that provide a broad critical context for both the achievement of Montague’s Collected Poems from 1995 and usefully complement the tales and portraits in Montague’s memoir Company from 2001. Montague played a pivotal role in the international evolution of contemporary Irish poetry from the late 1950s in Dublin through the worst years of the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland. He taught for two decades at the University College Cork, influencing a generation of younger Irish poets. He was the first holder of the Irish Chair of Poetry shared by Queen’s University Belfast, University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. Gathered from American, Irish, English and European critics and scholars long interested in the worth and wealth of Montague’s writings, these essays touch upon every aspect of Montague’s writings. The editor offers a survey of the criticism and also a descriptive checklist of his Montague’s many and varied publications.
The Time of the Corncrake: An Irishman’s Memories of His Life in the 1940s and 1950s by Kevin McDermott
Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 18.00 USD / 11.00 UK; 206 pages
The author was born and reared in Cavan town. Growing up in a small Irish town during the forties and fifties was a tough life. However, as the country slowly emerged from what was virtually a closed society, things improved and he witnesses the beginning of many changes in lifestyle. Unfortunately, the spectre of unemployment still loomed large and Ireland was still shedding its citizens in great numbers. By the time he had reached his late teens, he reluctantly came to the conclusion that he would have to emigrate. This book is his story.
In Search of the Craic by Colin Irwin
Paperback; 12.00 Euro / 15.00 USD / 9.00 UK; 256 pages [Add To Basket]
In this book the author undertakes a long journey into Ireland’s musical soul and encounters extraordinary people along the way. The result is a vibrant, heart-warming and frequently hilarious musical pub crawl across the length and breadth of Ireland.
History of the GAA in the Parish of Ardara 1921-2003 by Padraig S. Mac a’Ghoill
Hardback; 40.00 Euro / 48.00 USD / 30.00 UK; 874 pages, with colour and black-and-white illustrations throughout [Add To Basket]
This book chronicles the history of Cumann Luthchleas Gael in the parish of Ardara and south-west Donegal, from its beginnings in the early nineteen twenties to the present day.
Around Ireland with a Pan: Food, Tales and Recipes by Eamonn O Cathain
Trade Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 17.50 USD / 10.50 UK; 256 pages [Add To Basket]
In this book the Irish broadcaster looks at how food is produced, prepared, sold and eaten in Ireland, north and south, and how tastes – and standards – in food have changed over the years. He also discusses many of the outstanding chefs, restaurants, markets and food shops to be found in Ireland, recounts his own love of food and his experiences of running a restaurant, and speculates on what the future holds for Irish food. Each chapter is accompanied by recipes for both traditional dishes and ones that bring a modern twist to the best ingredients.
William Scott: Paintings and Drawings by Michael Tooby and Simon Morley
Trade Paperback with Endflaps; 35 Euro / 42.00 USD / 27.00 UK; 128 pages, full colour throughout [Add To Basket]
William Scott (1913-1989) has emerged as one of the greatest European painters of the 1950s and 1960s, whose sensitive touch belies the enduring strength of his painting. Of Northern Irish roots, he taught in Brittany before the War. During World War II he served with the Royal Engineers. Afterwards he was appointed senior painting lecturer at the Bath Academy of Art. This book is the first assessment of his work since his death in 1989. This study looks at Scott’s work outside the framework of modernist theory, within which it has always been previously contained. It publishes for the first time many previously unseen works, including drawings, which represent an essential element of Scott’s practice, one that he described as ‘exploring not explaining, containing geometry, sex, distortion and correction, forms pure and impure.’ This book discusses and illustrates in colour almost 100 works by Scott and also includes biographical details, artist’s statements and contemporary reviews.
The Black and Tans by Richard Bennett
Trade Paperback; 20.00 Euro / 24.00 USD / 15.00 UK; 228 pages [Add To Basket]
This book is the classic history of the Black and Tans in Ireland, originally published in 1959. Although they were only a small proportion of British forces in Ireland, the Black and Tans were the toughest, the wildest, and the most feared. They knew nothing and they cared nothing about Ireland. They were sent to Ireland in March of 1930 by Lloyd George’s Coalition Cabinet to make it ‘a hell for rebels to live in’. They could arrest and imprison anyone at any time. They murdered civilians. They wore a strange mixture of dark green tunics, khaki trousers, black belts, and odd headgear, including civilian felt hats. The Irish named them after a famous pack of wild dogs in County Limerick – the Black and Tans. This book is an accurate and authoritative account of an ugly and harrowing period in Anglo-Irish history – a period that the English have struggled to forget and the Irish cannot help but remember.
Ireland: A History by Robert Kee
Large Format Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 320 pages, with black-and-white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
Now completely updated and expanded to explore and explain the most recent events in Ireland, this classic book remains an essential survey of the country and its people, an introduction to the fascinating history that has made modern Ireland, and a thought-provoking examination of how past facts have bred present myths.
Gregory Carr, Bookseller
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