Historically there are many reasons for the forgery or falsification of a document. A major incentive for such a practice occurs when a powerful nation invades a weaker one without obvious justification. A classic example in our times was the document released by the British government in February 2003, Iraq—its infrastructure of concealment, deception and … Read more
Do penance or perish: Magdalen asylums in Ireland Frances Finnegan (Oxford University Press, £12.50) ISBN 0195174607Over the past number of years, prompted primarily by a number of television documentaries and films, the purpose and objective of Magdalen asylums in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ireland have had a considerable airing. However, much of this debate generated more … Read more
Strange kin: Ireland and the American South Kieran Quinlan (Louisiana State University Press, $49.95) ISBN 0807129836 The burden of history shared by pure Irish immigrants within the American South and its mixture of so-called ‘Celts’, ‘Anglo-Saxons’ and ‘Scotch Irish’ is not just stereotypically born of those ethnic groups’ ‘stupidity’ but by an obvious lack of … Read more
Refiguring Ireland: essays in honour of L.M. Cullen David Dickson and Cormac Ó Gráda (eds) (Lilliput Press, €60) ISBN 1901866 84X It is said that you can judge a man by the company he keeps. It certainly applies in the case of this volume of essays published to honour the work of Louis Cullen, one … Read more
Docwra’s Derry: a narration of events in north-west Ulster 1600–1604 William Kelly (ed.), edited in 1849 by John O’Donovan (Ulster Historical Foundation, £6.99) ISBN 1903688221 On 9 October 2003 this edition of Sir Henry Docwra’s tract was given a notable launch in the Tower Museum in Derry City. In the generous spirit of a shared … Read more