Nick Maxwell Sir,—I welcome Dr Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh’s timely analysis of the partial reading of the revolutionary period by earlier revisionist historians (HI 28.4, July/August 2020, Platform). The limited ambition of the ‘assembly line of automatons’ emerging from our history departments during the Decade of Centenaries has facilitated the evolution of a virulent mutation of revisionism. This … Read more
Sir,—I read with interest Alison Martin’s article on Michael Collins and the British press (HI 28.4, July/August 2020). It is, however, a pity that her opening sentence contains a historical inaccuracy, which is repeated in the penultimate paragraph, where the August 1922 death of Collins is termed an ‘assassination’. There were indeed assassinations during the … Read more
Sir,—Your May/June 2020 issue kindly included a review by Owen McGee of my book The enigma of Arthur Griffith: ‘Father of Us All’ (Merrion Press). On the night that the book was launched, an enthusiastic historical researcher came armed with press cuttings to demonstrate during drinks that the caption on one of the photographs in … Read more
BY TONY CANAVAN Centenary of an unusual kidnapping One hundred years ago the IRA captured Brig. Gen. Cuthbert Lucas while he and two other British army officers were fishing on the River Blackwater in County Cork. Letters between Lucas and his wife (addressed ‘c/o the IRA’), along with Lucas’s secret captivity diary, have now … Read more
A project designed to ensure that the history of the site is not forgotten. Grangegorman Histories is a public history project with the aim of uncovering, cataloguing and commemorating the eventful history of the Grangegorman area, situated between Phibsborough and Stoneybatter on Dublin’s north side. In 1773 the Dublin House of Industry was built in … Read more