Nick Maxwell Sir, —Margaret Ó hÓgartaigh, in her account of the trials of sportswomen in mid-twentieth-century Ireland (‘Internal tamponage, hockey parturition and mixed athletics’, HI 15.6, Nov./Dec. 2007), ridicules the opinions of the late John Charles McQuaid, Catholic archbishop of Dublin, and of Dr Stafford Johnson on the subject of menstrual tampons. Dr McQuaid in particular seems … Read more
Sir,—In reply to Jeffery Dudgeon (HI 20.2, March/April 2010, Letters), the debate about whether the late Peter Hart is guilty of calling the Dunmanway massacre ‘ethnic cleansing’ has gone on far too long. In his article ‘Class, community, and the Irish Republican Army in Cork’, in Cork: history and society (1993), he stated (p. 980) … Read more
Up to the mid-nineteenth century Italy was not a united sovereign nation but a patchwork of small independent states, each influenced to a greater or lesser degree by neighbouring powers such as France or Austria. A unification movement (Risorgimento) took hold in the 1850s, however, and included among its leaders Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini. … Read more
Crimes of loyalty: a history of the UDA Ian S. Wood (Edinburgh University Press, £15.99) ISBN 9780748624270 Lord, oh lord, what a depressing book! Militant loyalism is one of the truly awful traditions that has blighted this island, and Ian Wood’s history of the Ulster Defence Association illustrates that point in almost all of its … Read more
Sir,—I followed with interest the debate on Peter Hart’s interpretation of the 1922 Dunmanway massacre (John M. Regan, HI 20.1, Jan./Feb. 2012, Platform; Jeffrey Dudgeon, HI 20.2, March/April 2012, Letters). Hart’s reputation is unlikely to be damaged by Regan’s analysis, however. To somebody who knows the area, Regan’s handling of data is so slipshod and … Read more