Book Reviews

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

The Arts and Crafts Movements in Dublin and Edinburgh 1885-1925, Nicola Gordon Bowe & Elizabeth Cumming. (Irish Academic Press, £29.50) ISBN 0716525798

From the moment I turned the first page of this book I was riveted. This is a splendid study of the subject, one which will undoubtedly be regarded as a landmark publication by the specialist and as a thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating overview of the cultural and artistic climate of Dublin and Edinburgh at the … Read more

Pathways to Ulster’s Past: Sources and Resources for Local Studies Peter Collins (Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s, £6.50) ISBN 0853896933

If you are exploring the labyrinthine pathways to Ulster’s past, you are likely to welcome the appearance of this guide by Peter Collins. It is a great boon to have the mysteries of the myriad records, and those of the archives, museums and libraries in which they repose, so comprehensively elucidated within the covers of … Read more

Rethinking Irish History: Nationalism, Identity and Ideology Patrick O’Mahony and Gerard Delanty (Macmillan Press, £45) ISBN0333627970 The Geopolitics of Anglo-Irish Relations in the 20th Century, G.R. Sloan. (Leicester University Press, £45)

Both these books contain stern critiques of twentieth-century Irish nationalism, which has underpinned the creation of a sovereign twenty-six-county Republic. They represent interdisciplinary forays into history by on the one hand two sociologists from Cork and Belfast and on the other by a British defence specialist with rather mixed results. Rethinking Irish History represents the … Read more

The Ancient World of the Celts, Peter Berresford Ellis. (Constable, £25) ISBN 0094787204 Ancient Ireland: Life Before the Celts, Laurence Flanagan. (Gill and Macmillan, £16.99) ISBN 0717124347

Those of us who desire to know about the past are served by many people and groups: researchers, teachers, writers, and not least by publishers—without whom the thoughts of historians would be limited to their classrooms. And it is as a reflection on this group, and how they serve us, that I have chosen to … Read more