Nick Maxwell Between comrades: James Connolly, letters and correspondence, 1889–1916 Donal Nevin (ed.) (Gill & Macmillan, €29.99) ISBN 9780717142231 At last! After decades of calls to action, a beginning has been made. In this volume nearly all of James Connolly’s letters are collected. In addition, the first pages contain much correspondence unconnected with him save insofar as … Read more
One of the most perversely inventive punishments was handed out to John Walker for the theft of a comrade’s coat. He was taken to the gallows and had a rope put around his neck, which was drawn so tightly that he had to stand on tiptoes. In that precarious posture he received twenty lashes in … Read more
Judging Dev: A reassessment of the life and legacy of Éamon de Valera Diarmaid Ferriter (Royal Irish Academy, €30/£25) ISBN: 9781904890287 De Valera was unquestionably the dominant political figure of twentieth-century Ireland. His achievements included the foundation of Fianna Fáil, wartime neutrality, constitutional innovation, and democratically remaining in power for sixteen uninterrupted years. All of … Read more
The nobility of Tudor Ireland are important because the nobility were key agents of change in this revolutionary period. The movement among the English of Ireland for the political ‘reformation’ of their land during the reign of Henry VIII was essentially the product of hostility between the peerage and the gentry. Without it, the Kildare … Read more
Blood of the Irish Crossing the Line Films 5 & 12 January 2009, RTÉ 1 by John Gibney Blood of the Irish was RTÉ’s first significant documentary of 2009. The promotional material claimed that here was a programme that would seek ‘the truth about the Irish’ by asking the interlinked questions ‘who are the Irish … Read more