Nick Maxwell If the modern domesticated potato were to return to the Andes to seek out its roots (sic), it might find itself in company as alien and unrecognisable as the Irish-American who visits deepest Kerry in search of long-lost kin. The fresh-faced, pale and uninteresting new potato would consider its South American relations alarmingly odd—some purple-skinned, … Read more
The empty seats in the RDS at the opening of the recent (50th) Eucharist Congress, and the c. 50,000 hardy souls who attended the closing ceremony at Croke Park, stood in marked contrast to the million-plus who participated in the 31st in glorious sunshine in 1932. Looking back, we can now see that this marked … Read more
The most flourishing Irish rural settlements in the region grew up in the Argentine and Uruguayan Pampas. The successful integration of the immigrants into the wool production cycle was followed by spontaneous networks attracting family members, neighbours and friends from Ireland. Between 1830 and 1930 about 50,000 emigrants went to Argentina. One half returned to … Read more
Sir—In articles published in History Ireland and History, I recently drew attention to the late Peter Hart’s presentation of an unambiguous sectarian explanation for the so-called ‘Bandon Valley massacre’ of late April 1922. In a public lecture given in Cork, and coinciding with the massacre’s 90th anniversary, Dr Andy Bielenberg argued for the impossibility of … Read more
In January 1914 James Nowlan, president of the GAA, advised every member to join the Irish Volunteers and ‘learn to shoot straight’. Nowlan took his own advice and, as a member of the Volunteers, was imprisoned in Frongoch internment camp following the Easter Rising. As a prisoner, he was among many who engaged in sporting … Read more