Nicholas Allen (Four Courts Press, E45) ISBN 18518269 George Russell (Æ) is an elusive figure. He is acknowledged as one of the great names of the Irish Literary Revival, but scholars have found it hard to recapture his contemporary impact. Russell is remembered primarily as the ‘saint’ who failed to develop artistically, who through his … Read more
Brian Hanley (Four Courts Press, ™29.95) ISBN 1851827218 This is the most important study of the IRA to be published in recent years. It is based on a treasure trove of papers retained by Maurice Twomey, Chief of Staff of the IRA between 1926 and 1936. Brian Hanley has analysed this archive in depth and … Read more
Allan I. MacInnes and Jane Ohlmeyer (eds). (Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2002, E55.) ISBN 1851825320 ‘British’ history tends to come in books of essays. The notion that the kingdoms of England, Ireland and Scotland (and Wales) interacted to various degrees might seem obvious, but the tendency to look at relationships between the two islands and … Read more
Robert Lynd, son of a moderator of the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, was born in North Belfast on 20 April 1879. When he died in October 1949 and was buried in Belfast City Cemetery, Seán McBride, Minister for External Affairs, attended the funeral as the representative of the government of the … Read more
As Europe fell to the advancing German armies in the early months of World War II, the United Kingdom became more and more isolated and increasingly dependent on the Atlantic trade route for industrial raw materials and food. Although some air cover was already provided, a gap existed in mid-Atlantic, a section which could not … Read more