Fatal path: British government and Irish revolution 1910–22

Ronan Fanning (Faber and Faber, £16.99) ISBN 9780571297399 ‘There is a path of fatality which pursues the relations between the two countries and makes them eternally at cross purposes’ (David Lloyd George, House of Commons, 22 December 1919). Author Ronan Fanning says: ‘Fatal path is simply a case study in the high politics of how … Read more

Wexford castles: landscape, context and settlement

Billy Colfer (Cork University Press, €49) ISBN 9781859184936 Few counties in Ireland have been better served by their scholars and writers than Wexford—and, of these, no one has better honoured his county’s landscapes and people than Billy Colfer. Wexford castles is not only a worthy successor to his monographs The Hook Peninsula (2004) and Wexford: … Read more

Death and dying in Ireland, Britain and Europe: historical perspectives

James Kelly and Mary Ann Lyons (eds) (Irish Academic Press, Dublin, €27.95) ISBN 9780716531913 This publication presents the essays from the 30th biennial Irish Conference of Historians, which was held at NUI Maynooth in 2011 with death and dying as its theme. It provides fourteen essays by expert historians and archaeologists and makes a welcome … Read more

Ireland, Africa and the end of empire: small state identity in the Cold War, 1955–75

Kevin O’Sullivan (Manchester University Press, £65) ISBN 9780719086021 Historic ties between Ireland and Africa run deep. The earliest mission stations along the Congo River were founded by the Grattan Guinness family back in the 1870s. They provided King Leopold II with the stepping-stones for building his Congo Free State. In 1900 the Kells-born historian Alice … Read more

The Big Book(s)

The Irish rebellion of 1641 and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms Eamon Darcy (Royal Historical Society, Studies in History series, €62) ISBN 9780861933204 The shadow of a year: the 1641 rebellion in Irish history and memory John Gibney (University of Wisconsin Press, $29.95) ISBN 9780299289546 Ireland: 1641. Contexts and reactions Micheál Ó Siochrú and … Read more