Nick Maxwell Sir,—May I correct one factual error in the review of my book, Carson:the man who divided Ireland, by Mark Coalter in the last issue (HI13.5, Sept/Oct 2005)? The reviewer says he is confused about why Ishould consider Carson in 1922 should feel that the Conservative Party‘threw him over’ by making Bonar Law its leader. The … Read more
A chara, —The most significant controversies that have sprung up aroundthe Kilmichael ambush have revolved around two questions. The first iswhether there was or was not a false surrender by the Auxiliaries, withthe subsequent killing by the Auxiliaries of IRA men when they went totake this surrender. Tom Barry, who led the IRA ambushers atKilmichael, … Read more
Sir, —I noted with interest your use of the term ‘armed blackmail’ to describe the Ulster Volunteer Force campaign against home rule (editorial, HI 13.5, Sept./Oct. 2005). Your comments were in the context of trying to establish the origins of the Irish troubles that have led to IRA decommissioning. In the course of your analysis, … Read more
The National Archives of Ireland has produced a CD-rom, Counties in time, containing almost a thousand documents selected from its holdings. Eneclann, a historical research company, was contracted to select and prepare content, while Lendac Data Systems produced the CD. The records chosen exist, in nearly all cases, for the 32 counties of Ireland, and … Read more
Gothic Ireland: horror and the Irish Anglican imagination in the long eighteenth century Jarlath Killeen (Four Courts, E55) ISBN 1851829431 The title of this book initially suggests a study of the Gothic genre in Ireland in the eighteenth century, but Killeen delivers instead ‘a history of the social memory of Irish Anglicanism’, focusing on the … Read more