Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 359
Night Journey to Buddh Gaia by John Moriarty
Hardback; 40 Euro / 50 USD / 32 UK; 620 pages
In this book, John Moriarty like Gulliver is a traveller to exotic places: ancient Egypt, Sumeria, Babylonia, Canaan, Judea, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment and modern Europe, ending in the Waste Land of our own making. Calling them psychles (as distinct from the cycles) of Western history, and seeking to mend them as he does so, he leads us on an exodus through them. Emerging, he concludes that our cultural pasts still sponsor ecological havoc, and calling for a Naissance not a Renaissance. In other words, he believes that we must be radically original - to the extent of refounding city and psyche, the one a sacramental simulacrum of the other. Not only that, much as the ancient Egyptians enacted a night journey through their underworld to Sunrise, this book charts a night journey through the darkness of nature and culture to Earthrise. Seeing our planet coming up over a lunar horizon, Moriarty, believing that he has good reason to do so, names it Buddh Gaia, a compound of Sanscrit and Greek, suggesting enlightenment not just now and from now on, but all the was back through the geological ages. "Night Journey to Buddh Gaia", we suggest, could be usefully read by Europeans who, but with little vision so far, are currently seeking to re-imagine themselves. It might even be seen as a possible preamble to a European constitution.
Vanishing Ireland by James Fennell and Turtle Bunbury
Hardback; Publishers Recommended Price: 37 Euro. Read Ireland Book Review Special Price: 30 Euro / 38 USD / 24 UK; 180 pages, with black-and-white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
"Vanishing Ireland" is a unique collection of portrait interviews looking at the dying ways and traditions of Irish life and taking us back to an Ireland virtually unrecognisable to today's post-boom generation. Illustrated with over a hundred evocative and stunning photographs, we meet the people and customs that shaped the cultural identity of the Irish nation. Through their own words and memories, sixty-four men and women transport us back to a time when people lived off the land and the sea, when music and storytelling were essential parts of life, when a person was defined by their trade. Divided into five parts - Children of the Field, Children of the Music, Children of the Horse, Children of the Trade and Children of the Water - "Vanishing Ireland" brings together the stories of those who lived through Ireland's formative years. We hear of children harassed by the Black and Tans, of ceilis in kitchens, and the rigours of working in the fields, of the wonder of electricity and the devastation of emigration. From coalminers to saddlers, farmers to fishermen, along with horse dealers, publicans, housemaids and musicians - these remarkably poignant interviews and photographs, in their simplicity and honesty, will make you laugh and cry but, above all, will provide a valuable chronicle that connects twenty-first century Ireland to a rapidly disappearing world.
Sir Robert Gore Booth and His Landed Estate in County Sligo, 1814-1876 by Gerard Moran
Paperback; 11 Euro / 14 USD / 8 UK; 71 pages
This study examines Sir Robert Gore Booth and his estates. One, of the largest proprietors in Co. Sligo in the nineteenth century, with properties in Drumcliff, Rossiver and Ballymote, Gore Booth was an improving and resident landlord who spent large amounts of money improving the estate and in building Lissadell House. He adopted a paternalistic approach to this people, not only on his property, but among the community at large, especially during the Famine. Part of policy to improve the estate and consolidate holdings was to assist 1,500 of his tenants to emigrate to North America during the Famine. While most of the schemes were successful there were occasions where the tenants arrived in a poor condition for which he was severely criticized by the Canadian authorities. Sir Robert was actively involved in local politics and was the MP for the county for 26 years.
Achill Island Tattie-Hokers in Scotland and the Kirkintilloch Tragedy, 1937 by Brian Coughlan
Paperback; 11 Euro / 14 USD / 8 UK; 64 pages [Add To Basket]
In the aftermath of the "Great Famine" (1845-51), many of Achill's clachan settlements evolved into migrant-based communities. During the annual potato-picking harvest season (June to October), each migrant household's young single male or female, whose ages ranged from thirteen to twenty-three, travelled to Scotland in a group or squad system under the supervision of a foreman or gaffer. Tattie-hoker was the phrase the local Scottish population gave to the seasonal Achill migrant worker. On 16 September 1937, ten male members of an Achill tattie-hoking squad who were based in Kirkintilloch, died after their sleeping premises became engulfed with toxic fumes. This horrific tragedy brought the plight of the island's young migratory workers onto the national public and political arena. This study examines the official response to the tragedy by the Scottish authorities and Irish government as well as analyzing the causes for the decline of the Achill custom of tattie-hooking in the post-Second World War.
The Planters of Luggacurran, County Laois: A Protestant Community, 1879-1927 by Leigh-Ann Coffey
Paperback; 11 Euro / 14 USD / 8 UK; 72 pages
In late March 1922, a group of armed men forcibly evicted two protestant farmers from their homes at Luggacurran, Queen's County. The evictions marked the beginning of a month long campaign of violence targeting local protestant farmers, which was only brought to an end through the intervention of the provisional government. The events at Luggacurran are often seen as an example of the disorder and sectarian violence that characterised the Irish civil war, yet communal tensions had existed in the region for decades prior to the revolutionary period. This study considers the experiences of the Luggacurran protestants from their arrival in the area to the creation of the Irish Free State, focusing in particular on the issues of land and religion. As this study reveals, the relationship that existed between the protestants and the rest of the community was complex, and the violence that occurred at Luggacurran in the spring of 1922 was motivated by more than religious differences.
On the Edge of the Pale: The Rise and Decline or an Anglo-Irish Community in County Meath, 1170-1530 by Linda Clare
Trade Paperback; 11 Euro / 14 USD / 8 UK; 64 pages
The area around Syddan, Co. Meath was the flashpoint between two civilizations the Gael and the Gaill in late medieval times. This territory became well known, as it was on the border of the Pale, where the forces of the northern Irish came face to face with the English. Combining an invaluable richness of sources, particularly the Dowdall deeds, she has succeeded in recreating a world full of action and characters, while exploring their values and the pressures under which they lived. It is interesting to discover that the communities in the northern borders of the Pale retained their identities for so much longer than elsewhere.
The Murder of Thomas Douglas Bateson, County Monaghan, 1851 by Michael McMahon
Trade Paperback; 11 Euro / 14 USD / 8 UK; 68 pages [Add To Basket]
On 4 December 1851, Thomas Douglas Bateson, agent to the Templetown estate near Castleblaney, Co. Monaghan, was murdered as he returned on foot to Castleblaney after visiting the estate’s model farm at Corratnaty. The murder sent shock waves from Castleblaney to Westminster. This book sets out to examine the murder in the context of landlord-tenant relations at a time of extraordinary socio-economic upheaval in the aftermath of the Great Famine. The book reappraises the motivation behind the murder in the broader context of the Irish land question. It examines whether the crime was part of a Ribbon conspiracy or simply a desperate measure taken by a desperate tenantry. It also elucidates the criminal procedure that lead to the execution of three men and the acquittal of numerous.
Between the Mountains and the Gantries by Will Morrison
Hardback; 20 Euro / 26 USD / 14 UK; 215 pages [Add To Basket]
Belfast lies between the mountain and the gantries. This work offers: an iconic description of Belfast and the perfect description of the lives lived in the industrial city that lay between. Will Morrison was brought up in the hungry Thirties and Forties of wartime Belfast but although there was little of anything there was plenty of adventures to be found for a young boy starting his life's journey beyond his home to school, evacuation and the sometimes confusing adult world of work.
Irish Political Prisoners, 1848-1922: Theatres of War by Sean McConville
Large Format Paperback; 40 Euro / 50 USD / 30 UK; 820 pages [Add To Basket]
This is the most wide-ranging study ever published of political violence and the punishment of Irish political offenders from 1848 to the founding of the Irish Free State in 1922. Those who chose violence to advance their Irish nationalist beliefs ranged from gentlemen revolutionaries to those who openly embraced terrorism or even full-scale guerilla war. Seán McConville provides a comprehensive survey of Irish revolutionary struggle, matching chapters on punishment of offenders with descriptions and analysis of their campaigns. Government's response to political violence was determined by a number of factors, including not only the nature of the offences but also interest and support from the United States and Australia, as well as current objectives of Irish policy
The Irish Ordnance Survey: History, Culture and Memory by Gillian Doherty
Large Format Paperback; 25 Euro / 30 USD / 20 UK; 237 pages [Add To Basket]
This is a cultural and intellectual history of the Ordnance Survey, which mapped Ireland from 1824 to 1846. Captain Thomas Larcom of the Survey intended to produce an encyclopaedia-like series of county memoirs to accompany the maps, a great survey that would explain Ireland literally, as the maps would represent it graphically. However, only one memoir (for Templemore, County Derry) was published before the project was suspended but not before an immense amount of research had been undertaken for the whole country. As a result, these memoir reports by Ordnance engineers, scholars and local civic assistants constitute a remarkable archive on culture, folklore, religious practices, oral histories and social structures, before much was swept away by the Famine, modernization and anglicization. This book explores hitherto-unexamined aspects of Ordnance Survey work, in particular its historical, archaeological and cultural significance, and its wider implications for nationality and identity.
All in the Blood: A Memoir of the Plunkett Family, the 1916 Rising and the War of Independence by Geraldine Plunkett Dillon
Hardback; 25 Euro / 30 USD / 20 UK; 345 pages [Add To Basket]
Presents the story of the Plunkett family including the strenuous days before the Rising and its tragic aftermath the shooting of Joseph Plunkett. This book puts the manoevres of the national struggle into the context of a rich but unhappy family.
How the Irish Won the West by Myles Dungan
Hardback; 25 Euro / 30 USD / 20 UK; 302 pages [Add To Basket]
In this refreshing take on Irish-American history, historian and broadcaster Myles Dungan brilliantly displays how `contrary to the Hollywood version of the truth, the exploration and exploitation of the West was vastly different from the myth!' He reveals the true story of Irish immigrants and their descendants who toiled and dreamed of bigger things in America's Wild West, creating a wonderful testament to the Irish men and women who helped build a new nation. Ranging from soldiers serving under General Custer at Little Big Horn, to Lola Montez (Eliza Rosanna Gilbert from Sligo) a famous stripper and one of the most sought after courtesans of her era, Dungan saves those who seemed destined to be lost in the great chasm of history and breathes fresh life into the global fascination with the American Wild West.
Women of the Dail: Gender, Republicanism and the Anglo-Irish Treaty by Jason Knirck
Large Format Paperback; 25 Euro / 31 USD / 17 UK; 205 pages [Add To Basket]
This book studies in depth the involvement of women in Irish parliamentary politics during the crucial years of the Irish revolution and the post-revolutionary settlement. After briefly examining the apparent rise of female politicians - including Mary MacSwiney, Margaret Pearse, Constance Markievicz and Kathleen Clarke-to national prominence and Dail seats, the book looks at why the post-Treaty political landscape was so difficult for women. The standard explanation has to do with traditional male chauvinism and sexism. While they were undoubtedly present, "Women of the Dail" demonstrates that the attitude of the Free State government toward female politicians cannot be separated from the attitude of the Free State government towards republicanism. Political republicanism and women's involvement in politics were each seen as a manifestation of "emotionalism" in politics. The Free State government, in contrast, defined itself in opposition to this model, presenting itself as sober, rational, calm and unemotional. Thus the Free State/republican divide, and the language used to discuss the Treaty, is seen as a crucial component in understanding why women were virtually cast out of parliamentary politics after the Irish revolution.
Final Witness: My Journey from the Holocaust to Ireland by Zoltan Zinn-Collis
Large Format Paperback; 14 Euro / 19 USD / 10 UK; 250 pages [Add To Basket]
At the age of five, Zoltan Zinn-Collis was torn from his family home in Slovakia and cast into the deepest horrors of a Nazi concentration camp. In Bergen-Belsen he survived the brutality of the SS guards, the ravages of near starvation, disease, and squalor. He witnessed acts of mass murder and torture, and all but one member of his family died there, his mother losing her life on the very day the British finally marched into the camp.
Discovered by an Irish Red Cross nurse who described him as `an enchanting scrap of humanity', Zoltan was brought to Ireland and adopted by one of the liberators, Dr Bob Collis, who raised him as his own son. However, this was not the end of Zoltan's ordeal. In Belsen he contracted a deadly strain of Tuberculosis, and had to endure years of torturous medical treatments - a painful reminder of his lost childhood. But, through the love and dedication of his adopted father he was nursed back to health and given a second chance. Zoltan lost one family but found another. Now aged 65, Zoltan is ready to recount his painful past. He hopes that by speaking out, he may warn future generations of the consequences of intolerance, racism and hate.
Breaking the Mould: How the PD’s Changed Irish Politics by Stephen Collins
Paperback; 13 Euro / 18 USD / 9 UK; 280 pages [Add To Basket]
On a cold December morning, four days before Christmas 1985, a new political party was launched on a deeply depressing Irish political scene. At a hastily organised press conference, Desmond O'Malley, Mary Harney and Michael McDowell told a group of sceptical journalists about their plans to radically alter the nature of Irish politics. Despite the cynicism of the depressed 80s, that is precisely what the PDs have done. Their low-tax, free-trade agenda has been the dominant philosophy of the Celtic tiger and has transformed the whole intellectual climate of Irish public life. The PDs have been vastly more important than their time in government has warranted, impressive though that has been. It was they who finally subverted the Fianna Fail core principle of never entering coalition; it is they who have set out the intellectual template for the politics of modern Ireland; it is they who have fundamentally changed the climate of public discourse. Stephen Collins' authoritative history is based on his many years as one of Ireland's most distinguished political journalists; on interviews with leading figures in the party over its twenty years; and on a close observation of the party in power. Love them or hate them, there is no denying the pivotal role that the PDs have played in the making of the new Ireland. '... an excellent, and I believe very accurate, account of the first two decades of the history of this new party' - Garret FitzGerald, "The Irish Times". '... well researched, fluently written and balanced in its judgments. This is the authoritative account of the Progressive Democrats' - Magill. 'Stephen Collins has produced something of a scoop: the inside story of how the Progressive Democrats were formed' - John Bowman chooses one of his books of the year in the "Irish Independent".
Gregory Carr, Bookseller
Read Ireland
392 Clontarf Road
Dublin 3
Ireland
Tel + Fax: +353-1-853-2063
Customer Services Comments, Criticism and Questions
Subscribe to Read Ireland Book News - Our Free Weekly Email Newsletter