Nick Maxwell The purpose of Peoples, nations and cultures: an A–Z of the peoples of the world, past and present (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 672pp, hb £30, ISBN 0304365505) is, according to its dust-jacket, to present a ‘readable, fascinating and informative guide to no fewer than 1500 peoples, both extant and extinct’, quite an ambitious claim for a … Read more
Louth County Museum Jocelyn Street, Dundalk Monday–Saturday 10.30am–5.30pm Sunday 2pm–6pm by Tony Canavan Located in a renovated warehouse in the heart of Dundalk, since it opened in 1994 the Louth County Museum has won a number of awards, including Museum of the Year in 1995 and 1999. It is also one of the few such … Read more
Mary Cullen and Maria Luddy (eds) (Woodfield Press, €18.50) ISBN 095342930X Since the 1980s, historians of women in Ireland have focused largely on the early years of the twentieth century and the apparent bitter split between first-wave feminists who fought for the vote and nationalists who concentrated their efforts on the fight for Irish independence. … Read more
Our incurably violent neighbour Channel Four Blood on our hands: the English Civil War, 10 Feb. 2005 Directed by Tim Kirby for Mentorn Oxford Oliver Cromwell: New Model Englishman, 12 Feb. 2005 Directed by Paul Sen for Wall to Wall Television by Eamon O’Flaherty In recent years Channel Four has produced some very good programming … Read more
Nicholas Allen (Four Courts Press, E45) ISBN 18518269 George Russell (Æ) is an elusive figure. He is acknowledged as one of the great names of the Irish Literary Revival, but scholars have found it hard to recapture his contemporary impact. Russell is remembered primarily as the ‘saint’ who failed to develop artistically, who through his … Read more