Nick Maxwell Colm Lennon The early afternoon of Friday, 11 March 1597, was windy but dry in Dublin. The dryness of that springtime was a welcome relief from the succession of cold and wet seasons which had preceded it. At the Liffeyside along Wood Quay and Merchant’s Quay those who laboured at unloading the … Read more
J.P. Duggan On 27 April 1923 de Valera and Aiken published peace proposals to end the civil war: all arms should be under control of the executive government responsible to the people through their elected representatives. They insisted that all arms would have to be surrendered. Nevertheless when Fianna Fáil came back into constitutional … Read more
Ian McKeane Just over seventy years ago in the early evening of 22 August 1922 a car stopped at Newcestown church County Cork and its principal passenger wandered alone in the churchyard. Then driver and passenger set off north-eastwards and turned left at Quarry Cross to take the road to Bealnablath and then on to … Read more
John Regan Michael Collins in his full general’s uniform cuts a striking figure and is one of the most popularly used images of the Irish revolution. He remains, some seventy-three years after his death, an instantly recognisable figure with an undeniable romantic quality. But such is Collins’ continued celebrity that images of him … Read more
Strong Words, Brave Deeds: the poetry, life and times of Thomas O’Brien, volunteer in the Spanish Civil War H. Gustav Klaus (ed.)(O’Brien Press, £15.99) Reviewed by Willy Maley This is several books rolled into one—biography, letters, poems, plays, and essays, the whole project ‘illustrated with historic photographs, documents and ephemera’. The title suggests a simplistic … Read more