TIMOTHY EGAN Houghton Mifflin Harcourt $28 ISBN 9780544272880 Reviewed by: Dean Jobb Thomas Francis Meagher should have died in 1849, at the age of 25. A leader of the failed Young Ireland uprising, he faced the death penalty for treason. Offered a chance to speak before the sentence was passed, Meagher—a spellbinding orator—made a passionate … Read more
MARTIN BROWN OSB and COLMÁN Ó CLABAIGH OSB (eds) Four Courts Press €45 ISBN 9781846825729 Reviewed by: Peter Harbison Over the years, and through documentary sources, we have been hearing a lot about the medieval religious orders in this country but, in comparison, very little about the two military orders—the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller—who … Read more
ROBERT SCHMUHL Oxford University Press £19.99 ISBN 9780190224288 Reviewed by: John Gibney One of the most quoted phrases of the 1916 Proclamation comes in the second paragraph, in which its authors indicate that the various insurgent organisations were not acting alone: they also had the assistance of ‘gallant allies in Europe’, a reference that is … Read more
BILL KISSANE Oxford University Press £18.99 ISBN 9780199602872 Reviewed by: Eoin Dillon At the time of writing, breakup is very much in the air. The UK has decided by referendum to leave the EU. Scotland, after more than 300 years, may decide to leave the UK. The EU might also fragment back into its constituent … Read more
By Joe Cully David Brundage, Irish nationalists in America: the politics of exile 1798–1998 (Oxford University Press, £22.29 hb, 312pp, ISBN 9780195331776). David Doolin, Transnational revolutionaries: the Fenian invasion of Canada, 1866 (Peter Lang, €30 pb, 350pp, ISBN 9783035307894). Rose Doyle, Heroes of Jadotville: the soldiers’ story (New Island Books, €15.95 pb, 380pp, ISBN 9781848404885). … Read more