Nick Maxwell Michael Hopkinson (Gill & Macmillan, €30) ISBN 071713010X The Irish Revolution, 1913–1923 Joost Augusteijn (ed.) (Palgrave, €25) ISBN 0333982266 Given its pivotal role in the shaping of modern Irish society and its long grip on the popular imagination, it is astonishing that until recently there was no single monograph about the War of Independence. Michael … Read more
Hidden History RTÉ1 Family Fortune: de Valera’s Irish Press, 2 Nov 2004 Directed by Gerry Nelson for Mint Productions Joe Cahill, IRA man, 7 Dec 2004 Directed by Jonathon Golden for DoubleBand Films by Eamon O’Flaherty RTÉ’s Hidden History series offered an impressive collection of documentaries before Christmas. The focus was heavily biographical—Women of the … Read more
At Clermont on 27 November 1095 Pope Urban II made an appeal to his French audience to cease fighting one another and to turn to the east against non-Christian enemies. Urban might well have been wanting to raise a force in response to an appeal for help by the Orthodox Christian emperor at Constantinople, but … Read more
As the anti-Treaty military effort collapsed towards the end of 1922, thousands of prisoners fell into Free State hands, reaching 12,000 by early 1923. Such numbers placed a massive strain on the meagre resources of the new state. At a meeting of the Executive Council on 19 September 1922, it was agreed that the British … Read more
On Bodmin Moor in Cornwall there are three circles of standing stones known as ‘The Hurlers’. Legend has it that men of the area broke the Sabbath by playing the game and, as a consequence, were instantly turned to stone. It may come as a surprise to find the game of hurling associated with Cornwall, … Read more