20th-century / Contemporary History

Irish Politics and the Spanish Civil War, Fearghal McGarry. (Cork University Press, £16) ISBN 1859182402 The Irish & the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939, Robert Stradling. (Manchester University Press, £12) ISBN 1901341135

The appearance of two books on the relationship between the Spanish Civil War and Ireland is to be welcomed. It is often forgotten how deep an impact the conflict made on Irish political life, if only for a short period. Public opinion in the Free State was overwhelmingly pro-Franco, as was the Catholic church and … Read more

The Irish Border: History, Politics, Culture, Malcolm Anderson and Eberhard Bort (eds.). (Liverpool University Press, £15) IBSN 0853239517

This book represents Anderson and Bort’s fourth collaboration in four years. Having jointly edited two volumes on the eastern frontier of the European Union, they published The Frontiers of Europe in 1998 before bringing out this book, based on papers presented at a conference on the Irish border held at the International Social Sciences Institute … Read more

Hanna Sheehy Skeffington: a Life, Margaret Ward. (Attic Press, £14.95) ISBN 1855941872

When she was a young girl, her Uncle Eugene gave Hanna Sheehy the gift of a writing desk. A typical gift, probably, for one of her education and class, yet also symbolic—a practical tool suited to the work of an intellectual. For, fundamentally, it was Hanna’s intellectual curiosity that led her to question the conventional … Read more