Nick Maxwell This Hedge School, recorded at the Electric Picnic, September 2023, was preceded by a performance of Paddy Cullivan’s The Two Murders of Wolfe Tone, which can be viewed at paddycullivan.com. ‘He landed in France with one hundred guineas in his pocket and had come near to altering the destiny of Europe’—so said Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, … Read more
1960 The first televised debate between US presidential candidates is watched by an audience of 70 million as Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy faced off against Republican Vice-President Richard Nixon in Chicago. Kennedy was widely assumed to have made the better impression on viewers than a tired Nixon, who was recovering from a knee injury … Read more
MARK COEN, KATHERINE O’DONNELL and MAEVE O’ROURKE Bloomsbury ISBN 9781350279063 £19.99 Reviewed by Sheila Ahern Sheila Ahern is a freelance researcher, writer and broadcaster, formerly with RTÉ (1987–2000). In the twentieth century there were ten Magdalene laundries in Ireland, run by four religious orders. Here the editors explain that ‘by focusing on this one institution—on … Read more
GEARÓID Ó FAOLEÁN Merrion Press ISBN 9781785374456 €19.99 Reviewed By Niall Meehan Niall Meehan is the retired head of Griffith College’s Journalism and Media Faculty. Volume 1 of Broad church was Gearóid Ó Faoleán’s path-breaking Ph.D-based analysis of the base of southern support for the Provisional IRA during the 1970s. Volume 2 takes us through … Read more
ROB GOODBODY Wordwell Ltd £22.99 ISBN 978-1-913934-87-3 (pb) ISBN 978-1-913934-94-1 (e-book) Reviewed by Tommy Graham Tommy Graham is editor of History Ireland and a former apprentice fitter-turner in ESB Ringsend. Ballycorus is a townland about 2.5km to the west of Shankill, Co. Dublin. It is most notable for the chimney that stands at its highest … Read more