Nick Maxwell History as fairytale? Elizabeth: the Golden Age Director: Shekhar Kapur by Hiram Morgan Director: Zack Synder by Ciarán Brady This film is great fun but it is not history. It is an Anglo-Protestant present-centred interpretation of history wrapped up in Hollywood glamour, Harry Potter fantasy and Monty Python caricature. It is a sequel to the … Read more
Sir,—I read with delight the article ‘Viking Cork’ by Henry A. Jefferies (HI 18.6, Nov./Dec. 2010) and note with interest his quotation, attributed to Deborah Sutton, that ‘We think the people here ate hake and pike . . .’. It seems that excavations of Viking Cork carried out by Deborah and Máire Ní Loingsigh revealed … Read more
Sir,—Re Fergus Whelan’s claim that Irish republicanism is ‘not indigenous’ (HI 18.6, Nov./Dec. 2010). By the same token, Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism and Islam are all imports. In fact, the only truly indigenous faith is paganism.—Yours etc., JAMES G. KEEHAN Gort
Sir,—I was interested in Tom Farrell’s account of some of the Irishmen who fought in the Korean War (HI 18.5, Sept./Oct. 2010). This was the first war in which the United Nations organised a task force, under its own command, to enforce its mandate. As well as the troops referred to by Tom Farrell, there … Read more
Sir,—I was dismayed by Seamus Deane’s intemperate review of James Donnelly’s Captain Rock (HI 18.6, Nov./Dec. 2010), having long been an admirer of Deane’s writing. He did your readers no favours, ignoring much of the content of a book that offers the most comprehensive and sophisticated analysis of the Rockite movement to date. Deane, it … Read more