Sir,—In his review of my book Remember ’48 (2 vols): Young Ireland and the Rising and Young Irelanders beyond the Rising, Peter Gray wrote (HI 32.2, March/April 2024, p. 61):
‘The most recent critical writings on the subject, such as James Quinn’s 2015 book on Young Ireland and the writing of Irish history, do not warrant a mention; nor do Gerry Kearn’s insightful articles on the mentality of Thomas Davis and John Mitchel’.
This is patently incorrect. In Remember ’48, vol. I, James Quinn’s Young Ireland and the teaching of Irish history is referred to in the text at pages 8, 19 and 20, and in endnotes 20 (p. 22), 84 (p. 24), 90 (p. 24), 55 (p. 430) and 56 (p. 116). In Remember ’48, vol. II, James Quinn’s Young Ireland and the teaching of Irish history is mentioned in the text at pages 356, 839, 861, 864 and 872, and in endnotes 89 (p. 367), 23 (p. 813), 100 (p. 851), 36 (p. 874), 52 (p. 874), 87 (p. 876), 88 (p. 876) and 66 (p. 896). James Quinn’s Young Ireland and the teaching of Irish history is listed in the bibliography of printed books at p. 936, vol. II.
Three articles by Gerry Kearns are listed in the bibliography (vol. II, p. 946) under ‘Articles’. To give but one example of the above 21 references to James Quinn’s valuable publication, in vol. I (p. 8) I write:
‘James Quinn, in Young Ireland and the writing of Irish history (2015), defines his Young Ireland:
“I have generally used the term for the small group of like-minded nationalists who were regular contributors to the original Nation between the founding of the paper in 1842 and its suppression in 1848. In terms of the writing of Irish history, the most significant of these were Thomas Davis, Charles Gavan Duffy, John Mitchel, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, [Fr] Charles Patrick Meehan and Thomas MacNevin.”
I need say no more.—Yours etc.,
WILLIAM NOLAN