Nick Maxwell The federal subpoena served on 5 May 2011 on the John J. Burns Library of Boston College established that events occurring as long ago as December 1972 have the capacity to destabilise variously the academic, legal and political affairs of the present. Assumptions that the First Amendment of the US Constitution would guard against this … Read more
Dublin Nazi No. 1: the life of Adolf Mahr Gerry Mullins (Liberties Press, €25 hb, €16.99 pb) ISBN 9781905483198 In 1927 the Austrian Adolph Mahr became Keeper of Irish Antiquities at the National Museum in Kildare Street, Dublin, one of a diverse group of European professionals recruited by the fledgling Irish Free State. Made director … Read more
In late April 1922, thirteen Protestants were murdered or disappeared over three horrific nights in West Cork. In The IRA and its enemies (1998) Peter Hart described this as a massacre motivated primarily by sectarian hatred. Others said that the killing had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with spying against the … Read more
After a short break occasioned by last issue’s ‘special’ on the Flight of the Earls, Bookworm is back. The ‘Flight’ continues to stimulate the public imagination throughout the country, with conferences, seminars, re-enactments, music recitals and publications. A useful starting-point for the uninitiated is Liam Swords’s The Flight of the Earls: a popular history (Columba … Read more
The Big House Lennox Robinson Abbey Theatre, Dublin by Eamon O’Flaherty The Abbey’s decision to revive The Big House more than 50 years after its last run was amply vindicated by the success of the recent production, which also revealed how much an improvement has been made, at relatively little cost, by the new auditorium. … Read more