Nick Maxwell

Before the Revolution: Nationalism, Social Change and Ireland’s Catholic Elite, 1879-1922, Senia Paseta. (Cork University Press, hb £35, pb £15.95) ISBN 1859182267, 1859182275

For a long time Irish nationalism was seen primarily in terms of political movements, and there has been a tendency to identify with mass movements rather than elites. Recent theories which emphasise how educational and social obstacles to upward mobility for minorities in a professional society encourage nationalist movements has revived interest in the Catholic … Read more

Defending Ireland: the Irish Free State and its Enemies since 1922, Eunan O’Halpin. (Oxford University Press, £25) ISBN 0198204264

That Ireland escaped the familiar pattern of post-colonial military despotism is remarkable given that our political forebears emerged from a militant milieu. The transition from militancy to constitutional democracy is best examined in the context of the State’s attitude to violence. Beginning with a refreshingly candid account of the civil war, Defending Ireland traces the … Read more

Cromwell in Ireland, James Scott Wheeler. (Gill & Macmillan, £19.99) ISBN 0717128849

In the seventeenth-century poem ‘Tuireamh na hÉireann’, the war in Ireland between 1641 and 1653 is described as ‘an cogadh do chríochnaigh Éire’ [the war that finished Ireland], and there is no disputing the importance of Cromwell’s impact on this conflict. He landed at Ringsend in August 1649, and during the subsequent nine-month campaign displayed … Read more

Orangeism: the Making of a Tradition, Kevin Haddick-Flynn. (Wolfhound Press, £30) ISBN 0863276598. The Faithful Tribe: An Intimate Portrait of the Loyal Institutions, Ruth Dudley Edwards. (Harper Collins, £17.99) ISBN 0002558637

Up until this year there had been a dearth of work on the Orange Order. This was bound to change as once again issues over the right to parade have gripped the north of Ireland. Both Orangeism: The Making of a Tradition by Kevin Haddick-Flynn and The Faithful Tribe: An Intimate Portrait of the Loyal … Read more

Buckingham in Ireland, Victor Treadwell. (Four Courts Press, £45) ISBN 1851822739

Victor Treadwell’s early works on Irish customs reform and the Irish Commission of 1622 have long been fundamental reading for anyone seeking to understand the inner workings of Irish administration during the early Stuart period. He has produced another major contribution to both Irish and English historical scholarship by concentrating on the political and social … Read more