Nick Maxwell Sir,—Reading Patrick Holland’s account of the Unionist meeting in the picture gallery in Kilkenny Castle on 12 October 1912 and Brian Cleary’s account of the Byrne-Perry Summer School, one could not but feel that little has changed over the intervening eighty-three years. Mr. Holland candidly acknowledges the partisan approach of the press coverage of the … Read more
Sir,—Re. Sean Connolly’s passing jab in your Autumn 1995 issue, dismissing as ‘hopelessly anachronistic’ my description of Charles Lucas as a nationalist. It is curious how apparently sophisticated ‘revisionist’ historical interpretations can be simply uncritical regurgitations of contemporary or near-contemporary prejudices. The portrayal of Lucas as a mere corporation politician and anti-Catholic bigot is a … Read more
Reviewed by Willie Nolan The existence of two administrative counties with all the appropriate apparatus of local government within the geographical county of Tipperary has always raised the question as to how this arrangement came about. There are bigger, more populous counties in Ireland: scale and internal geographical features in counties like Donegal, Cork and … Read more
Reviewed by Mats Greiff In the late 1880s trade unionism was an almost unknown phenomenon among unskilled and semi-skilled workers in Connacht. In the agrarian sector it was only the herdsmen who had made efforts to organise in unions, and in the towns it was the artisans and drapers’ assistants who were organised to a … Read more
Reviewed by Myrtle Hill Women’s contribution to philanthropy in the nineteenth century has been well recognised by religious and social historians of the last decade, and in this scholarly work Maria Luddy provides a comprehensive survey of the Irish experience. Her study is informed by the contributions of other scholars—the pioneering work of Frank Prochaska … Read more