Nick Maxwell Sir, —With reference to the article ‘Men at war: nineteenth-centuryIrish war correspondents from the Crimea to China’ in the last issue(HI 15.3, March/April 2007) I was interested to learn of the reportingfrom the Crimea of Edwin Lawrence Godkin. After emigrating to theUnited States in 1856, he developed a strong following here in his roleas the … Read more
Sir, —It is remarkable that in the last issue (HI 15.2, March/April 2007), a non-theme number, there is a ‘platform’ article on John Redmond, a ‘short’ on John O’Leary and a longer ‘sources’ article centred around William O’Brien, three of the leading figures of the different strands of Irish nationalism at the beginning of the … Read more
Sir, —I was grateful for Peter Hart’s thoughtful review of my book Spies, informers and ‘the Anti-Sinn Féin Society’ in the last issue (HI 15.2, March/April 2007). However, I would like to clarify a few issues that he raised. As Prof. Hart points out, my theory about a pro-British civilian spy ring in Cork City … Read more
History Man: the life of R. G. Collingwood Fred Inglis (Princeton University Press, Ä33.55) IBSN 9780691130149 Robin George Collingwood was born on 22 February 1889 in the English Lake District and died there on 9 January 1943. He wrote extensively on the philosophy of art, metaphysics, the nature of knowledge, archaeology and religion, but … Read more
Behind the Green Curtain: Ireland’s phoney neutrality during World War II T. Ryle Dwyer (Gill and Macmillan, €25) ISBN 9780717146383 The reasons for Irish neutrality during the Second World War are widely accepted: that any attempt to take an overtly pro-British line might have resulted in a replay of the Civil War; that Southern … Read more