Nick Maxwell Coolacrease. The true story of the Pearson executions—an incident in the Irish War of Independence Philip O’Connor (ed.) (Aubane Historical Society, €20) ISBN 9781903497487 On a superficial level this book is about an incident in County Offaly during the Irish War of Independence in which two brothers were executed by the IRA. Richard and Abraham … Read more
Bookworm is always on the lookout for publications that appeal to a particular type of (usually desperate) reader: Leaving Cert and A-level students, lazy undergrads, or general readers whose enthusiasm for history is not matched by the necessary leisure time to plough through academic monographs (although with the deepening recession that could change). A case … Read more
Bridget (Biddy) Early was born in 1798 in the townland of Lower Faha, Co. Clare, the only child of John Thomas Connors and Ellen Early, at a time of bloody revolution. Her family lived in poverty, with her mother making clothes spun from flax grown in the fields nearby. The threat of eviction was ever-present. … Read more
An atlas for Celtic studies: archaeology and names in ancient Europe and early medieval Ireland, Britain, and Brittany John T. Koch (Oxbow Books, £50) ISBN 9781842173091 When Abraham Ortelius published the first modern atlas in the late sixteenth century he included maps of ‘the Celts’ as part of his overall coverage of Europe. He justified … Read more
Sir John Soane’s Museum 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3BP +44 (0)20 7405 2107, jbrock@soane.org.uk, www.soane.org Tues.– Sat. 10.00am–5pm by Tony Canavan Lincoln’s Inn Fields is one of those squares typical of this part of London, in which eighteenth- and nineteenth-century houses surround a green space. Number 13 does not particularly stand out among … Read more