The decade of centenaries has Irish publishers working overtime. Four Courts Press have now launched an ambitious new series of county histories: ‘The Irish Revolution, 1912–23’. The first volume is Michael Farry’s Sligo (€17.50pb, 192pp, ISBN 9781846823022); if it is anything to go by, this will be an elegant, comprehensive and well-produced series. Further books … Read more
In his painting Departure, Pádraic Reany depicts an apocalyptic human procession trudging across a blighted and bloodied potato field, the emaciated dead lying beneath the feet of the mourners, the living marching towards perpetual exile on a famine ship. The anger of the piece encapsulates the mood of the inaugural exhibition of the newly opened … Read more
Ireland has yet to come to terms with its Civil War, fought over the bitterly divisive Treaty signed in December 1921, resulting in up to 1,000 fatalities and the subject of limited scholarly study. Michael McDowell SC, former attorney general, minister for justice and tánaiste, is a compelling presenter in this well-crafted documentary. He embarks … Read more
The Great Famine of the 1840s has recently returned to the public eye, with the publication of new histories by Tim Pat Coogan, Enda Delaney and John Kelly, along with the mammoth Atlas of the Great Irish Famine (reviewed on pp 56–7). RTÉ joined in at the start of the year with Blighted nation, a … Read more
No film has dominated the Irish film landscape as much as John Ford’s The Quiet Man, which celebrated the 60th anniversary of its release last year. The worldwide success of Ford’s classic may have also partly inspired the making of a German ‘Quiet Man’, partially set and shot in Ireland and dating from 1953—complete with … Read more