Nick Maxwell Mary Size (1883–1959)—forgotten Irish pioneer of British penal reform. By Ruairí Ó hAodha Myra Hindley claimed that she was glad that it was dark when she was driven through the gates of Holloway Prison, London, in 1966, as she avoided having to view its forbidding Victorian façade. Hindley had narrowly avoided the hangman for her … Read more
By Joe Culley @TheRealCulls About halfway through his superb new biography of St Patrick, Roy Flechner, while referring to an earlier standard work, writes: ‘The present study, it is hoped, is just as successful in attaining the coveted status of “least improbable”’. Saint Patrick retold is that rare amalgam of academic rigour married to stylish … Read more
C.J. WOODS Four Courts Press €45 ISBN 9781846827389 Reviewed by Aengus Ó Snodaigh Aengus Ó Snodaigh is an author, historian and Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South-Central. C.J. Woods’s imposition of the ‘thirty-year rule … to distinguish between history and mere contemporary studies’ leaves many of my connections with Wolfe Tone’s grave and commemoration outside … Read more
ARNOLD HORNER Wordwell Books €30 ISBN 9781999790 Reviewed by Matthew Stout Matthew Stout lectures in the School of History and Geography, Dublin City University. Arnold Horner is a giant in the field of Irish historical geography and he is revered by two generations of geography students at UCD as an inspirational teacher. In recent years … Read more
The early career of Paschal Robinson OFM, the first papal nuncio to the Irish Free State, 1929–48. By Thomas J. Morrissey SJ Charles Robinson, the future papal nuncio to the Irish Free State, was born on 26 April 1870 at 49 Percy Place, then a row of fairly new houses along the Grand Canal. When … Read more