Nick Maxwell Sir,—In 2016, Sir Bob Geldof stated that the men of 1916 were the same as Muslim Jihadis. At about the same time, an eminent, well-respected British journalist reinforced this view. While still getting over the shock of that insight, I was doubly shocked to read Aidan Beatty’s (HI 26.1, Jan./Feb. 2018) revelation that Gaelgeoirí in … Read more
Sir,—I appreciate History Ireland’s accolade in choosing the collected writings of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington as the ‘Big Book’ review for January/February 2018 (HI 26.1). I was very glad to see that the reviewer, Patrick Maume, begins by describing this as a ‘valuable book … a picture of an activist in her own words’. But to … Read more
By Bernadette Cunningham Who is the most famous person in Irish history? We all know about ‘lies, damned lies and statistics’, so how can we compare the renown of various historical personalities from the Irish past? What biases will affect any attempt to rank historical personalities by reputation or popularity? What if a database designed … Read more
NOEL DORR, Royal Irish Academy, €30, ISBN 9781-908997647 By Cillian McGrattan Cillian McGrattan lectures in Politics at the University of Ulster. Former Irish senior civil servant Noel Dorr revisits the increasingly well-furrowed ground of the Sunningdale period (1973–4) in this autobiography-cum-history. Although Dorr’s perspective on events was rather limited at the time owing to his … Read more
BY TONY CANAVAN Where and when did the War of Independence start? At Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary, 1919, I hear you say. Well, in Donegal they recently commemorated what they claim was the first action of the War of Independence. On 4 January 1918, an RIC party was bringing two republican prisoners from Kincasslagh to court … Read more