Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 444
21/22 March 2009
Blood on the Banner: The Republican Struggle in Clare by Padraig Og O Ruairc
Large Format Paperback; 20 Euro / 28 USD / 14 UK; 348 pages, with a 16-page black-and-white photo insert
In May 1915, Ernest Blythe was appointed as an organiser for the Irish Volunteers by Volunteer headquarters and was sent to Clare to train the Cloonagh and Kilfenora Volunteers. The authorities were well informed about Blythe's activities in Clare. He established Irish Volunteer companies at Doolin and Liscannor and supplied the Crusheen company with seven rifles. Because of his success in organising and arming the Clare Volunteers, Blythe was arrested and deported a few weeks later, under the defence of the realm act.Fifty three republicans from Clare gave their lives in the struggle for independence, but the story of Clare republicanism goes much deeper than that. Padraig Og O Ruairc takes the story of Clare's republicans from the start of the twentieth century to the end of the War of Independence. In the process, he examines the course of the campaign, the events tragic, heroic and the victims, British and Irish. Featuring detailed descriptions of the battles and campaigns, "Blood On The Banner" offers a fresh perspective on events that shaped the county for decades to come.
The Burnings 1920 by Pearse Lawlor
Trade Paperback; 15 Euro / 19 USD / 10 UK; 222 pages [Add To Basket]
The shot was fired at point blank range by Sean Culhane hitting Swanzy, as he later claimed, behind the right ear and exiting on the other side of his head between his ear and his eye. Almost simultaneously Dick Murphy, the other Cork man, fired a volley at Swanzy. As he fell further shots were fired into his body with McCorley pausing to deliver the coup de grace.Many RIC officers were killed during this period but the murders of Divisional Commissioner Colonel Smyth and District Inspector Swanzy led to unprecedented reprisals against the Catholic population in the towns of Banbridge, Dromore and Lisburn.Lawlor traces the events which led to serious sectarian rioting and the burning of Catholic owned property over a period of three months in 1920 and details, for the first time, the extent of the destruction and loss of life in these towns. The sectarian violence in Belfast during 1920-1922 has been well documented but the scale of the violence in Belfast was such that events which took place in other towns, while mentioned, were never explored in detail. Lawlor highlights the importance of Cork and the killing of Tomas MacCurtain in the tragic events that later came to pass in the north.
Stories from Ireland by Ita Daly
Small Gift Hardback; 8 Euro / 12 USD / 6 UK; 152 pages
Oxford Children's Myths and Legends bring you the greatest stories ever told, from around the world and long ago. Heroes and villains, witches and wizards, warriors and royalty - there's something here for everyone. This wonderful collection is drawn from a long tradition of story-telling - tales that have been retold and passed down from generation to generation. Read about how the children of Lir were turned into swans, what happens to anyone who dares to look into King Balor's evil eye, and about many more magical characters and heroic adventures.
`Readers who pick up this collection of retellings by Ita Daly will find themselves enchanted by her light touch, which at the same time tunnels to the heart of these tales of joy, sorrow and magic.' Children's Books in Ireland
`Ita Daly tells these stories with flair and includes some lesser known stories among the usual standard ones.' The Irish Post
Head Rambles with Ireland’s Most Cantakerous Auld Fella by Richard O’Connor
Paperback; 10 Euro / 15 USD / 8 UK; 222 pages [Add To Basket]
All I want now is to be left in peace; to smoke my pipe and to enjoy an odd pint of stout. Of course, that is now illegal, just about anywhere in Ireland, but at least our village has the sense to apply laws that are reasonable, and to ignore all those petty little regulations that are designed to save us from our own natural inclinations to enjoy ourselves. Grandad is an ordinary bloke. He's sane. He even has a certificate from his psychiatrist to prove it. He says that he is making great progress. Grandad's only problem is that he is getting old. That has a good and bad side. The good side is the good looking girls don't feel threatened any more, he can pay for things with small change when there is a long queue and people will only mutter. The bad side is that he is increasingly grumpy and even little things are driving him mad. Grandad has lived an outspoken blogging life since he first started posting in 2006.
Lord of the Rams by Ronan Smith
Paperback; 15 Euro / 18 USD / 9 UK; 220 pages
A hilarious account of growing up in Ireland, Lord of the Rams takes the reader around the Emerald Isle and beyond on a 25-year tongue-in-cheek adventure of a lifetime.
Antiquities of the Ring of Kerry by Jason Bolton
Paperback; 12 Euro 20 USD / 9 UK; black and white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
This book focuses on one of Ireland’s most visited landscapes. The Ring of Kerry, one of our best-known tourist trails, is the largest peninsula and the most mountainous area in Ireland. The landscape is wild, dominated by mountain ranges cut by steep-sided valleys, cliffs, pockets, glens and narrow passes, a varied coast stretching from sandy bays at Ballinskelligs and Derrynane to high sea-cliffs and long sandy spits, and bogs found to the north and west of the mountains.
This diverse landscape contains a wide range of archaeological remains, which the author sets out to describe and explain. The sites described in this book lie along the Ring, ordered as if travelling in a clockwise direction from Cahersiveen to Killarney and circling the Iveragh Peninsula through Waterville, Sneem and Kenmare, providing a cross-section of the archaeological heritage of this part of Kerry and a useful guidebook for anyone travelling in the area.
Irish Railways: A New History by Tom Ferris
Hardback; 25 Euro / 32 USD / 16 UK; 230 pages [Add To Basket]
It is now over 170 years since the first passenger railway in Ireland, the Dublin & Kingstown, opened for business in 1834. From modest beginnings, the railway network expanded over the next 70 years into almost every part of the country. At its greatest extent, the national network consisted of just under 3,500 route miles of track. This era of expansion was followed by an equally long period of decline which was sparked by the inexorable rise of the internal combustion engine and exacerbated by the partition of the island and the economic problems of the inter war years. It was only towards the end of the twentieth century that this decline was arrested and passenger numbers and investment levels at last began to recover.This new book, written by one of the leading historians of Ireland's railways, provides not just a detailed account of the rise and decline of the system and its current resurgence, but many insights into the social and economic effects of the railways on the country they served. The author shows how these effects were both beneficial and detrimental. The railways allowed the products of the great manufacturers of Victorian Britain to be distributed cheaply to the remotest corners of Ireland causing difficulties for local producers, and eventually forcing the Irish economy to depend even more on agriculture as a result.On the more positive side of the equation, they encouraged social and economic mobility and had an effect in binding the country together by allowing the distribution of national newspapers, enabling sporting contests such as Gaelic games and horse racing to move from the local to the national stage and encouraged political debate and agitation with prominent figures using the trains to take their message to a wider audience than was hitherto possible. The railways even became embroiled to some extent in the political process, as government sponsored railway promotion at the end of the nineteenth century attempted to promote economic regeneration and perhaps even kill off enthusiasm for Home Rule in the process. This is a story rich in human interest, a tale of triumph and tragedy, superb achievement and monumental incompetence, which will appeal to all who have even a passing interest in this most emotive and romantic of human inventions in the field of transport.
Lost Railways of County Donegal by Stephen Johnson
Oblong Paperback; 11 Euro / 15 USD / 7 UK; 50 pages, with black and white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
The remote and beautiful county of Donegal provides the back-drop for this history of railway building and decline in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the retrospective collection of photographs and fascinating accompanying details, the adventure and romance of rail travel in its heyday is captured for the reader to enjoy.
Lost Railways of Galway and the North West by Stephen Johnson
Oblong Paperback; 11 Euro / 15 USD / 7 UK; 50 pages, with black and white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this area was characterised by rivalries between railway companies, often resulting in more than one railway station, each under different ownership, being constructed in a single small village (the village of Collooney had three). As in other areas of Ireland, a mix of narrow and broad gauge lines criss-crossed the countryside and the last operational narrow gauge railway in Ireland, the West Clare Railway, ran here until 1961.
Lost Railways of Limerick and the South West by Stephen Johnson
Oblong Paperback; 11 Euro / 15 USD / 7 UK; 50 pages, with black and white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
A fascinating diversity characterises the railways of the Irish South Western region. There are broad and narrow gauge lines, double header trains, a railway which was stolen by its creditors after the owners went bankrupt and even a monorail! The accompanying photographs provide a glimpse into the lives of these early engineers and their passengers.
Old Derry by John Hanna
Oblong Paperback; 11 Euro / 15 USD / 7 UK; 50 pages, with black and white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
Step back to a time when 'Derry's prosperity was evident in it buildings - The Court House and Smith's Institute; its hotels - The Imperial on Bishop Street and The City on Guildhall Square; and its garden square - The Diamond. Much of this prosperity was generated by the harbour, and there are many views of it and its workings - and the surrendered, Second World War, German U-boats. Also included are its bridges, the Carlisle and the Craigavon, and subjects as diverse as a uniformed employee of the Melville Hotel, Macari's Ice Cream Salon, High School girls playing hockey in the grounds of Duncreggan and the 1st Rugby XV of Foyle College in 1828.
Available Again:Crying in the Dark by Shane Dunphy
Paperback; 10 Euro / 15 USD / 8 UK; 205 pages [Add To Basket]
She lost control of the tears. 'Oh God, help me. Please help me. I can't do this any more.' I put my arms around her and let her cry. The sobs wracked her small frame as nearly fourteen years of pain and loss finally bubbled to the surface. There was nothing I could do but let her pour it all out, and I knelt there on the tatty carpet in the darkness and held her.
Hush, Little Baby by Shane Dunphy
Paperback; 10 Euro / 15 USD / 8 UK; 240 pages [Add To Basket]
Five heart-stopping true stories of terror and triumph, told by the man who tried to make life better for these troubled children ... Clive, a thirteen-year-old victim of terrifying demonic visions, tells frightening stories of abuse and imprisonment. Could they be genuine? Patrick, twelve, bravely setting out to find the truth about his birth family - however painful it may be ... Six-year-old Johnny, tiny and undernourished, desperately tries to recover from a brain-injury inflicted by his drunken and violent father ... At fourteen, Katie is so aggressive that the authorities have put her in special care, away from other children. What could be the cause of such fury? And in a grim island prison, a lumbering bully ponders his crimes against his twin children, Larry and Francey - while his sadistic and conniving wife, the real monster behind his actions, tries to fool the state into returning the traumatised boy and girl to her care.
Wednesday’s Child by Shane Dunphy
Paperback; 10 Euro / 15 USD / 8 UK; 207 pages [Add To Basket]
In three amazing stories childcare worker Shane Dunphy reveals a world of hidden heartbreak and survival against the odds. When Shane meets her, Gillian is starving herself to death and in thrall to a mother more interested in abusing and manipulating her daughter than cherishing and protecting her. Though he tries to help, it seems Shane is just another adult destined to fail Gillian ... For the daughter of disturbed violent parents, Connie is an amazingly well-adjusted A-grade student. But when Shane finally gets behind the facade, he unearths a shattering truth behind her apparent normality ... Cordelia, Victor and Ibar are three loving siblings left with a hopelessly alcoholic neglectful father. It’ s a race against time to see if their father can ever become the kind of Dad he wants to be, or if they are destined to be split up and sucked into the childcare merry-go-round.
Please note: Prices were correct at time of original posting but are subject to subsequent change without notice.
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