The Irish art of controversy Lucy McDiarmid (Lilliput Press, E20) ISBN 1843510693 On 4 June 1957 the British ambassador in Dublin, Sir Alexander Clutterbuck, writing to Sir Charles Dixon at the Commonwealth Relations Office, commented: ‘Apart from partition itself, the two main “official” grievances in this country against us are the Lane pictures and Casement, … Read more
Pushers Out: the inside story of Dublin’s anti-drugs movement André Lyder (Trafford, E19.50 paperback) ISBN 1412050995 Despite the huge amount of attention given by the media to the impact of drug use, particularly heroin, on Irish life from the 1980s onwards, it has not received a great deal of attention from historians either in political … Read more
Carson: the man who divided Ireland Geoffrey Lewis (Hambledon and London, price £19.99) ISBN 1852854545 Writing in 1953, H. Montgomery Hyde, the biographer of Edward Carson and sometime Ulster Unionist MP, commented that ‘today a new generation has grown up in Ulster in an atmosphere of relative political security. To its members Carson is a … Read more
Subversive law in Ireland 1879–1920: from ‘unwritten law’ to the Dáil courts Heather Laird (Four Courts Press, E45) ISBN 1851828761 In this study the author looks at the self-help schemes put in place by the native Irish to settle their grievances by devising alternative tribunals in which they might be aired and adjudicated upon in … Read more
Lotteries, according to Voltaire, were ‘a tax on idiocy’. Judging by the recent media frenzy generated around the Irish winner of the Euro Millions lottery, it is an idiocy that shows no signs of abating. According to Rowena Dudley in The Irish lottery 1780–1801 (Four Courts Press, 166pp, €40 hb, ISBN 1851829164), lotteries have long … Read more