20th-century / Contemporary History – Page 255

Orangeism: the Making of a Tradition, Kevin Haddick-Flynn. (Wolfhound Press, £30) ISBN 0863276598. The Faithful Tribe: An Intimate Portrait of the Loyal Institutions, Ruth Dudley Edwards. (Harper Collins, £17.99) ISBN 0002558637

Up until this year there had been a dearth of work on the Orange Order. This was bound to change as once again issues over the right to parade have gripped the north of Ireland. Both Orangeism: The Making of a Tradition by Kevin Haddick-Flynn and The Faithful Tribe: An Intimate Portrait of the Loyal … Read more

A Star Called Henry, Roddy Doyle (Jonathan Cape, £16.99) ISBN 0224060198

Academic historians tend to be sceptical and at times begrudging about historical novels, suspiciously dissecting the text for sloppy research methods and pouncing on convenient writer’s licence, but also secretly envious, knowing that the book will reach much larger audiences than anything their own often narrowly trained minds could produce. Before historians balk at the … Read more

The Mulcahy Tapes & Papers

For many years I have had an interest in my father’s large collection of papers. After his retirement from politics in 1961, Prof. Kevin B. Nowlan and I assisted him in putting his large collection of War of Independence, truce, civil war and later personal and political papers in order, and having them transferred to … Read more

Professor Pokorny of Vienna

Julius Pokorny was a German Celtic scholar who supported Irish nationalism and the Gaelic League. He corresponded with Douglas Hyde, met Éamon de Valera and is mentioned by name in Ulysses. And he was a German nationalist who lost his chair in Berlin because of Jewish ancestry, after which an Irish visa saved his life. … Read more