Dáire Keogh and Kevin Whelan (eds.) (Four Courts Press, E50) ISBN 1851825304 This book contains the proceedings of two conferences held in Newman House, St Stephen’s Green, and at the Byrne-Perry Summer School in Gorey to mark the bicentenary of the Act of Union. This was the latest in a series of voluntarily organised but … Read more
John Tyrrell, (Collins Press, E12.68) ISBN 1898256047 In the last few decades research has revealed factors from the fifth century to the present day which have enriched our understanding and appreciation of our history. One in particular brought forth astonishment on the one hand but no jolt whatever to soil users. When Gardiner and Ryan’s … Read more
The Easter Rising Michael Foy and Brian Barton (Sutton Publishing, £14.99) ISBN 0750926163 Considering its importance in modern Irish history, remarkably few scholarly books have been written on the Easter Rising. Michael Foy and Brian Barton’s welcome book, The Easter Rising, is the first in over a generation and meets a long overdue demand by … Read more
Tim Carey (Collins Press) ISBN 1898256896 Entering Mountjoy jail in 1997, having spent two years researching its history for this book, the author sought to ‘step back in time’ so as to make a connection with Mountjoy’s nineteenth-century past. Peering through the spy hole of a cell in the basement of B wing, one of … Read more
Last April’s conference of the Society for the Study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland at the University of Southampton, whose theme was chosen to reflect the centenary of Queen Victoria’s death, opened with a classic rendition of the music hall ditty ‘Killaloe’, written by Robert Martin, landowner, unionist and composer of popular songs and musicals. Music hall … Read more