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
One of the forgotten consequences of the partition of Ireland in 1920 is that a significant strand of nationalism was left isolated and ignored. In the South the official version of the national story underplayed the Northern Protestant involvement, and to be a Northern Protestant woman meant being ignored altogether. That is why this exhibition … Read more
Sir, —I would like to compliment Matthew Kelly for his excellent article‘. . . and William Rooney spoke in Irish’ in the Jan./Feb. 2007 issue.Rooney is indeed an important figure who is rarely considered, and thearticle does him great justice. While Rooney’s commitment to theemerging nationalism of the late 1890s until his 1901 death wasrelatively … Read more
On 26 July 1914 the Asgard, the yacht of Erskine Childers, then a famous writer, sailed into Howth with 900 Mauser rifles, which were quickly unloaded and distributed to waiting Volunteers and boys of Fianna Éireann. This followed the very successful landing in April by the Ulster Volunteer Force of 35,000 German, Italian and Austrian … Read more
The history of cricket in County Kilkenny—the forgotten game Michael O’Dwyer (O’Dwyer Books, ‘Garvaghey’, College Gardens, Kilkenny, e35 + e7 p&p) Michael O’Dwyer’s book is correctly subtitled ‘the forgotten game’. Whatever else we may think of when we think of Kilkenny, cricket hardly leaps to mind. And yet this book, drawing on the ample documentation … Read more