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
by Jim Smyth A protracted war of independence and a bitter civil war left the new Irish Free State with economic and social problems of enormous proportions – the economy and infrastructure were ravaged, unemployment and ill-health were endemic and the wounds of the civil war were far from healed. But the agenda of perhaps … Read more
HM: Could you tell us about your background? ATQS: My father was a Belfastman. He had emigrated to Australia but in the middle of the first world war, he enlisted in the Australian Expeditionary Force and was brought back to Europe. When the war ended, there was a problem getting Australian troops home so … Read more
A History of Ulster . Jonathan Bardon (Blackstaff Press, 1992, £14.95) and Nine Ulster Lives, G. O’Brien & P. Roebuck (eds.) (Ulster Historical Foundation, 1992, £7.95) (1:1) Tony Canavan On being presented with Jonathan Bardon’s A History of Ulster one recalls the Duke of Gloucester’s comment on being presented with Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, … Read more
A Man with a Mission: Tommy Graham finds out about the man and his message. TG: Could you tell us a little about your background? BB: I was born in Limerick City in 1937, in what local people call ‘the parish’, St. Mary’s, the old medieval part of the city. My father had a very … Read more