Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 353
The Singer and the Song: Sixty Irish Songwriters and their Favourite Songs by Audrey Healy
Large Format Paperback; (Publisher’s Recommended Price: 16.50 Euro) Read Ireland Book Review Price: 14 Euro / 18 USD / 9.50 UK; 282 pages
How many times have you heard a song and wondered what it's all about? This book offers readers a unique insight into the origin of well-known popular songs in Ireland today and will uncover the real story behind the favourite songs of some of Ireland's most well-known composers. In an unusual and thought-provoking collection, this group of recording artists tell us why they decided to record a certain song and invites readers to listen to the songs in a whole new light. Covering all genres, it will include contributions from artists such as Luka Bloom, Christy Moore, Mary Black, Sharon Shannon, Johnny Logan, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Charlie McGettigan, The Stunning, Roesy, Mundy, Liam Lawton, Don Baker, John Spillane and many, many more. Half of the royalties from this book will go to Brainwave, the Irish Epilepsy Association, I hope that their involvement will help show people that living with epilepsy is not the end of the world and that there is help out there.
Rachel’s Favourite Food at Home by Rachel Allen
Hardback; (Publisher’s Recommended Price: 27 Euro) Read Ireland Book Review Price: 22 Euro / 29 USD / 15 UK; 226 pages, with full colour illustrations throughout [Add To Basket]
If you've ever prayed for inspiration for interesting food to prepare and serve at home, Rachel Allen's "Food at Home" serves up the answers. In this beautifully illustrated cookbook to accompany her latest TV series, Rachel Allen once again offers the delicious, inspiring and easy to follow recipes for which she has become famous. "Rachel's Favourite Food at Home" draws on international influences, classic regional fare and good old family favourites to provide creative options for every occasion, whether planning a simple family meal, hosting a festive dinner for the entire clan, squeezing in a sneaky romantic meal for two, heading out for a glorious picnic, chilling out on the sofa with your favourite comfort food, or spending time baking muffins with the kids. The chapters include: Easy Family Food; Sweet Celebrations; Picnics and Days Out; Food for Children; Extended Family Meals; Dining Al Fresco; Home Cinema; Big Celebrations; Edible Gifts; and, Just Like Mum Used to Make.
The Sheriff: A Detective’s Story by Gerry O’Carroll
Large Format Paperback; (Publisher’s Recommended Price: 18 Euro) Read Ireland Book Review Price: 16 Euro / 21 USD / 11 UK; 352 pages
Since Gerry O'Carroll joined Ireland's Garda in the early 1970s, there has been much bloodshed and plenty of controversy. As one of the force's most distinguished detective inspectors, he has seen his fair share of both. Following his first posting as an officer on the beat in Rathfarham, County Dublin, Gerry spent three decades investigating some of the country's most high-profile crimes and here he explains the motives behind them and reveals the confessions that led to convictions. The Kerry Babies case split the nation and Gerry was at the centre of the debate. In "The Sheriff", he shares his thoughts on the tragedy, along with his experiences as an officer at the height of the Troubles. Following his retirement from the force, Gerry has become a popular columnist with the Evening Herald and is in demand on radio and television for his views on crime. He most famously helped Jon Voight to prepare for his performance as an Irish policeman in John Boorman's The General. The film was based on the life of Martin Cahill, a gangster vigorously pursued by Gerry. "The Sheriff" recounts Gerry's story from his Kerry upbringing as one of a family of 15 children to his professional success as one of Ireland's most well-known policemen.
Ireland in the World: Further Reflections by Garret FitzGerald
Trade Paperback; 15 Euro / 19 USD / 10 UK; 255 pages [Add To Basket]
Ireland in the World - Further Reflections is a collection of essays, many of which have not previously appeared in print, on Irish history and politics, contemporary Irish society and world affairs by the former Taoiseach and respected columnist Garret FitzGerald.
What strikes the reader most forcefully is the breadth of Dr FitzGerald's interests, the range of his expertise and the clarity with which he presents his arguments, which are sometimes controversial and always compelling
In this extensive collection, including pieces drawn from essays and speeches delivered over the past several years, Dr Garret FitzGerald examines the emergence of the Irish state, the Northern Ireland question and the position of Ireland in relation to Europe, the US and the wider world.
Scouting in Ireland by J. Anthony Gaughan
Hardback; 25 Euro / 30 USD / 20 UK; 200 pages, with 40 black-and-white photos
This book is a comprehensive account of scouting in Ireland. The Irish B-P scouts date back to 1908, following the establishment of the organization in Britain by Lieut-General Robert Baden Powell. Fianna Eirreann was founded by Countess Constance Markievicz in 1909 to counter the Anglicising influence of the B-P scouts. Frs. Tom and Ernest Farrell promoted the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland in 1927 as a Catholic alternative youth movement to the B-P Scouts and Fianna Eirann. Each of these organizations reflected the major cultural, political and religious traditions in Ireland. This overview illustrates how scouting has evolved pari passu with Irish society and today is both inclusive and pluralist.
Navigations: Collected Irish Essays 1976-2006 by Richard Kearney
Paperback; 25 Euro / 30 USD / 20 UK; 450 pages
This new selected edition of Kearney's writings on Ireland supplants his seminal text, The Irish Mind: Exploring Intellectual Traditions (a revised Introduction appears here), and extends Transitions: Narratives in Modern Irish Culture to which eight pieces are added comprising 50 per cent new material, and giving unique access to the state and status of Irish culture in the twenty-first century. Twentieth-century Ireland witnessed a crisis of culture. Experienced largely as a conflict between traditional aspiration and modern realism, ‘transitions', however resisted, are inevitable. Navigations encompasses the notion of the intellectual ‘circumnavigatio' of early medieval and ancient Irish scholars and exchanges, and the shallows and deeps of competing arguments that make up these texts.
Contents In five parts: Political, Literary, Dramatic & Visual Narratives, and Dialogues. The studies include: The Triumph of Failure: Long Kesh & the Prison Tradition; Yeats & the Conflict of Imaginations; A Crisis of Fiction: Flann O'Brien, Francis Stuart, John Banville; The Language Plays of Brian Friel; Modern Irish Cinema: Re-viewing Traditions; An Art of Other-ness: Louis le Brocquy; Dialogue with Borges & Heaney: Fictional Worlds; Migrant Minds: Bono, Jordan, Durcan, Ballagh; Myth & the Critique of Ideology. (Also available in Hardback priced at 60 Euro)
The Dublin Review: Number 23 Summer 2006 edited by Brendan Barrington
Paperback; 8 Euro / 11 USD / 5 UK; 112 pages [Add To Basket]
The twenty-third quarterly instalment of "The Dublin Review" contains more of the best new writing from Ireland and elsewhere: essays, criticism, fiction and reportage. Issue number 23, appearing in early June, includes: Ann Marie Hourihane on the 1916 commemorations; A house in Prague: Justin Quinn sifts the relics of a street, a family and a city; Tim Robinson: A river in Connemara; King Kong, my mother, and me: Vona Groarke; Kathleen Jamie listens for the cry of the capercaillie; Amongst the Miami Cubans: Maurice Walsh; and, Fiction by Philip MacCann and Michael West.
Surprised by Joy by Michael Meegan
Paperback; 10 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 260 pages [Add To Basket]
This is a story of tragedy and suffering on an epic scale. From the heart of an ancient continent comes a tale as old as time and a journey that is powerful and beautiful. This is a story of passion and love, disaster and corruption. It is the story of a doctors journey to the poorest areas of the earth and his decades living in absolute poverty. But above all it is a book about grace and the victory of gentleness over cruelty. His journey takes him through the great cities of the world and to the poorest slums.
Michael Meegan brings with him only a fire within that cannot be extinguished. This is an inspiring adventure full of passion, tragedy and drama. This book is about Africa, about Ireland, about friendship and tears, it is an honest, sometimes brutal meditation of what it means to live, to live here, now. This is the stuff from which legends are made; it is about the power of compassion when it comes face to face with an Africa torn apart. These words speak with a passion and sincerity sharing a message we urgently need to hear. If there is a book that will touch you, this will be it.
Illustrated History of the GAA by Eoghan Corry
Large Format Paperback; 17 Euro / 22 USD / 12 UK; 250 pages with full colour illustrations throughout [Add To Basket]
The GAA is the largest amateur sports body in the world and the most successful voluntary association in the history of modern Ireland. Its games are played in every parish, village and townland of Ireland; its influence on Irish public life is immeasurable. Eoghan Corry traces the history of this extraordinary body in pictures from its foundation in the late nineteenth century through to its continuing success at the heart of sporting culture in Ireland. Drawing on the resources of the GAA Museum in Croke Park plus many private and public sources, Eoghan Corry surveys the development of Gaelic games through their various eras. Among the themes covered are the consistent domination of the football championship by Kerry in every decade; the emergence of Ulster teams, first in the 1960s and more decisively in the 1990s; the up and down fortunes of Dublin's footballers; the emergence of Kilkenny as a major power in hurling immediately before the first World War; the Kilkenny-Cork rivalry of the 1930s; the dominance of Tipperary immediately after the Second World War and in the 1960s; and the brilliant revival of hurling, spearheaded by Clare, in the 1990s. In addition, Eoghan Corry pays due attention to camogie, handball and the social side of the GAA. "A great overview that covers both the foundation of the organisation and the slick phenomenon it has become in Celtic Tiger Ireland, as well as everything in between" - "Irish Independent".
From the Author : The Illustrated History of the GAA has been taking shape over a period of two decades, drawing on new photographic, oral and archive sources to tell the stories of the six indigenous games unique to Ireland and the sporting culture that as grown up around them. The story concentrates on the games, and the people who played, organised and followed them. Bigger issues are also treated, the impact of Gaelic Games on Irish popular and political culture and its international identity in other sports. Some forgotten aspects of Irish history have been rediscovered, some persistent inaccuracies tackled, and some big questions about the evolution of the games and the association which controlled them reassessed. As this is the first serious attempt to revisit GAA history since the publication of Marcus de Burca and William Mandle’s histories of 1979 and 1984, I took the opportunity to introduce some recent scholarship on Gaelic games and its culture to the general reader. It is my modest attempt to bring forward a reassessment of a massive and under-recognised part of Ireland’s history.
Mick: The Real Michael Collins by Peter Hart
Paperback; (Publisher’s Recommended Price: 12 Euro) Read Ireland Book News Price: 10 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 485 pages [Add To Basket]
Few people have had as profound an impact on their country's history in so short a time as Michael Collins had on twentieth-century Ireland. Dead at thirty-one, he remains a hero and an icon both in his native country and abroad. Peter Hart's compelling and comprehensive biography draws on many hitherto unseen sources to explore the life of Michael Collins and to ask what made him such an extraordinary and complex man. Set to become the definitive work, Hart's is the first book fully to investigate Collins' life before becoming a revolutionary and the first to take a critical look at his rise to power and its consequences. 'Brusque, unsentimental and sensible' - "Sunday Independent". 'Excellent...Hart cuts through Collins' aura of secular sainthood, showing him to be a complex figure' - "Daily Telegraph". 'Moves beyond hagiography or demonology and seeks to restore the complexity of real people trying to make history' - "Irish Times". 'A triumph' - "Irish Review".
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