By Cora Crampton ‘Whenever the Irish past is invoked, we must ask ourselves not only by which groups and to what end, but also against whom?’ (Ian McBride) The people of Leinster travelled in their many thousands to the rath of Mullaghmast in south Kildare, close to the village of Ballitore, on 1 October 1843 … Read more
Following on from Trinity College Dublin’s Legacies of Slavery Project, Rachael Scally investigates the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) and its links to slavery and empire. By Rachael Scally Work is ongoing but, to date, research has established that 23 of the Royal Dublin Society’s members and alumni had owned between them 2,260 enslaved people—approximately the … Read more
By Patrick Wadden Ian Stewart’s magnificent recent book, The Celts: a modern history, and Mark Williams’s perceptive review (HI 33.6, Nov./Dec. 2025) have brought questions about Ireland’s Celtic identity back into focus. The tendency to label as ‘Celtic’ everything associated with early Ireland—and assorted modern phenomena that wish to associate themselves with Ireland’s distant past … Read more
RONAN McGREEVY and EMER PURCELL (eds) Four Courts Press €30 ISBN 9780901510990 REVIEWED BY Thomas O’Loughlin Thomas O’Loughlin is Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology at the University of Nottingham. This book owes its publication to the Decade of Centenaries and needs to be understood in that context: it is both a commemoration today, which is … Read more
GERARD SHANNON Irish Academic Press €19.99 ISBN 9781785375842 REVIEWED BY Colum Kenny Colum Kenny is professor emeritus, DCU, and author of Myths and lies of ‘the Irish Revolution’ (Eastwood, 2025). This is a satisfying read, not least because of its measured prose and sense of fairness. It was never going to be easy to strike … Read more