This is a thought provoking study. Sean Farren provides us not only with an insight into developments in the schools in both Northern Ireland and the Free State/Republic of Ireland, but shows the extent to which the schools were used by political and church powers to cultivate a particular, one-dimensional type of nationality, culture and … Read more
Peter Hart (Oxford University Press, £25) ISBN 0199252580 Tom Barry: IRA freedom fighter Meda Ryan (Mercier Press, £30) ISBN 1856354253 Two new books will stimulate fresh interest and controversies about the IRA in the period 1916–23. Peter Hart’s is very much a statistical history of the Irish Revolution. He has used a wealth … Read more
‘At Lincoln Cathedral there is a beautiful painted window, which was made by an apprentice out of the pieces of glass which had been rejected by his master.’ With this parable the budding English historian Thomas Babington Macaulay illustrated the central argument of his 1828 debut essay ‘History’, which advocated that historical scholarship could benefit … Read more
Following the withdrawal of the British from the 26 counties in 1922 and the creation of the Irish Free State, many of those families who had relied on their presence as a guarantee of their safety found themselves in a vulnerable position. One such family were the Phibbses of Doobeg, Bunnanadden, Co. Sligo. The … Read more
Mention the sinking of the Lusitania and most people will give a nod of recognition. Mention of the sinking of the Leinster will usually elicit a puzzled frown, despite the fact that its loss was of major international significance. It was also the worst disaster ever to befall an Irish-owned shipping company and resulted in … Read more