Nick Maxwell PAUL O’BRIEN Cork University Press €49 ISBN 9781782053415 Reviewed by Nelson O’Ceallaigh Ritschel Nelson O’Ceallaigh Ritschel is the author of Bernard Shaw, Seán O’Casey, and the dead James Connolly (Palgrave, 2021). As the centennial years of Seán O’Casey’s Dublin trilogy plays, The Shadow of the Gunman (1923), Juno and the Paycock (1924) and The Plough and … Read more
JOOST AUGUSTEIJN Four Courts Press €22.45 ISBN 9781846825859 Reviewed by Liam Alex Heffron Liam Alex Heffron is a Ph.D student at the University of Galway and author of No revolution: igniting war in north Mayo, 1917–1923 (Mayo County Library, 2017). This is the thirteenth book in the county studies series, drawing on new archival records … Read more
JAMES STAFFORD Cambridge University Press £75/€90 ISBN 9781316516126 Reviewed by Timothy Murtagh This book’s title is a reference to William Molyneux’s seminal 1698 pamphlet The case of Ireland, widely regarded as a turning-point in the evolution of ideas about Irish nationhood. Rather than focusing on concepts of Irish nationalism or national struggle, however, Stafford’s work … Read more
By Daragh Fitzgerald The recent passing of the Legacy Bill through the UK Houses of Commons and Lords—a move opposed by all political parties in Ireland, regardless of constitutional persuasion—renders Huw Bennett’s Uncivil war: the British Army and the Troubles, 1966–1975 an altogether frustrating though nevertheless compelling read. Examining the strategy, tactics, rhetoric and actions … Read more
National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks By Donal Fallon For many people, RTÉ’s Brainstorm website offered a first introduction to the work of museum curator and GAA historian Siobhán Doyle. While live sports were absent for much of 2020, Doyle’s fascinating insights into the history and culture of the Gaelic Athletic Association explored subjects as … Read more