Mick: the real Michael Collins Peter Hart (Macmillan, E36.99) ISBN 1405052635Peter Hart writes well, and is obviously a man of ability, but the impression conveyed by this book is that he felt the time was opportune for a revisionist work on Collins. To attract readers he has adopted the technique not of the historian but … Read more
Old World colony: Cork and South Munster 1630–1830 David Dickson Cork University Press, E49 h/b, E29.95p/b ISBN 1859183557 Historians of eighteenth-century Ireland have waited a long time for the appearance of this book, a revised and expanded version of a pioneering and much-cited PhD thesis passed by its examiners nearly 30 years ago. Though prolonged, … Read more
Readers of a certain age (hands up all those who did their Leaving in the 1970s!) will remember with fondness the Gill History of Ireland series, in particular the last two—John A. Murphy’s on the twentieth century and Joe Lee’s Modernisation of Irish society, 1848–1918. For the hard-pressed student, both had the advantage of brevity … Read more
Lotteries, according to Voltaire, were ‘a tax on idiocy’. Judging by the recent media frenzy generated around the Irish winner of the Euro Millions lottery, it is an idiocy that shows no signs of abating. According to Rowena Dudley in The Irish lottery 1780–1801 (Four Courts Press, 166pp, €40 hb, ISBN 1851829164), lotteries have long … Read more
Kenneth Wiggins brings together detailed documentary sources and unique archaeological discoveries in an expert assessment of this siege. It is the first book entirely devoted to Limerick Castle, and also the first on the siege of an Irish castle. The book incorporates plans, photographs and reproductions to provide a well-illustrated and thorough analysis. It embraces … Read more