Sir,—I feel I should step in between Mr Bowman and Professor Boyce, if only to declare a ‘no contest’ (HI Winter 1994). As I said in my book on the 16th (Irish) Division (Ireland’s unknown soldiers), the formation’s infantry (as distinct from its supporting arms) was always largely Catholic Irish. Bowman should not cite my … Read more
British High Politics and Nationalist Ireland: criminality, land and the law under Foster and BalfourMargaret O’Callaghan(Cork University Press, £30hb, £15.95pb) Ideology and the Irish Question: Ulster Unionism and Irish Nationalism 1912-1916Paul Bew (Clarendon Press, £20) Reviewed by Martin Mansergh In Ireland, history is ideology. Over the last few decades, historians of different tendencies have sought … Read more
David Officer A ration party of the Royal Irish Rifles resting in a communications trench at the Somme, 1 July 1916. Historians of Ireland regularly harp on about the often blunt and crude forms in which the past is mobilised by contemporary interests. However, historians themselves pay scant attention to the forms, methods and media … Read more
Michael Foy We live in an age of media gurus, spin doctors and soundbites, when advertising agencies have been invested with almost divine powers to sell policies, transform images and win elections. The now familiar relationship between the mass media and politics first made an impact in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe in … Read more
Vivien Kelly Irishmen do not need to have indicated to them the hardship of being governed by those alien to them in temperament, ideals and traditions. An Englishmen they say can never understand the needs of a country like Ireland. How strange then that all men should be considered gifted with … Read more