James Connolly: ‘a full life’ Donal Nevin (Gill and Macmillan, ?29.99) ISBN 0717139115 Posterity has been oddly kind, even condescending, to James Connolly. While the motives and performance of many of his rebel contemporaries and successors have been subjected to ever more pitiless scrutiny, Connolly has never lost the aura of a romantic revolutionary. He … Read more
The manner in which Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announced the reinstatement of a state-sponsored military parade to commemorate the 1916 Rising (at the Fianna Fáil árd fheis) has led to predictable criticisms that the Soldiers of Destiny are out to hog the 1916 commemorations in a partisan fashion, particularly in the run-up to the centenary in … Read more
An atlas of Irish history Ruth Dudley Edwards, with Bridget Hourican (Routledge, £14.99) ISBN 0415278597When it was first published in 1973 this work was welcomed as a snapshot of Irish history, a convenient repository of facts, and as a work that graphically conveyed its information through many elegantly drawn maps. A measure of its success … Read more
Through American and Irish wars: the life and times of General Thomas W. Sweeny, 1820–1892 Jack Morgan (Irish Academic Press, £19.50) ISBN 0716528134 Thomas Francis Meagher: the making of an Irish American John M. Hearne and Rory T. Cornish (eds) (Irish Academic Press, £19.50) ISBN 0716528134 The American Civil War, even more than the Revolutionary … Read more
Belfast’s unholy war Alan Parkinson (Four Courts Press, ?39.95) ISBN 1851827927 Those involved in bridging community divisions in Belfast should be aware that the city was scarred by a prolonged period of unremitting sectarian and political violence long before the recent Troubles. The black days of 1920–2, in which almost 500 people—mainly innocent civilians—died, coincided … Read more