Reviewed by J.P. Duggan In the wake of the Second World War the pillorying of ‘Éire’ for perfidy and treachery by abrasive Stormontites caused much resentment among so-called ‘southerners’ from Donegal down, who suspected that there was more than a grain of truth in the canard that the loyalists were ‘more loyal to the half-crown … Read more
Sir, —As a reader of History Ireland for a number of years I havefollowed with great interest the debate involving Peter Hart over thelast few issues. I would like to comment on his response to theprevious critical letters, and mainly view it from a historiographicalpoint of view rather than from that of a person who … Read more
Sir, —It’s good that evidence suppressed by Peter Hart in pursuance ofhis agenda has seen the light of day (‘In defence of Cork’s politicalculture’, HI 13.4, July/August 2005). But why is the Civil War death ofMichael Collins described as an assassination? Collins, in uniform,rifle in hand, had been firing on his attackers, as had his … Read more
The Irish art of controversy Lucy McDiarmid (Lilliput Press, E20) ISBN 1843510693 On 4 June 1957 the British ambassador in Dublin, Sir Alexander Clutterbuck, writing to Sir Charles Dixon at the Commonwealth Relations Office, commented: ‘Apart from partition itself, the two main “official” grievances in this country against us are the Lane pictures and Casement, … Read more
Pushers Out: the inside story of Dublin’s anti-drugs movement André Lyder (Trafford, E19.50 paperback) ISBN 1412050995 Despite the huge amount of attention given by the media to the impact of drug use, particularly heroin, on Irish life from the 1980s onwards, it has not received a great deal of attention from historians either in political … Read more