Sir, —If Sir Henry Wilson (Henry Hughes Wilson, to give him his full name) is best remembered for the circumstances of his death, why then were we not told about his assassins—Reginald Dunn (known as ‘Reggie’ Dunn among the earliest group of Irish students at St Mary’s College, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham) and Joseph O’Sullivan—both ex-British … Read more
Ireland and the Palestine question 1948–2004 Rory Miller (Irish Academic Press) €45 hardback ISBN 07165 28142 €25 paperback ISBN 07165 33499Rory Miller begins his story not in 1948 but in 1937, when Eamonn de Valera told the League of Nations that the Palestine question should not be solved by partition, ‘the cruelest wrong that could … Read more
Radical politics in modern Ireland: the Irish Socialist Republican Party, 1896–1904 David Lynch (Irish Academic Press, €39.50) ISBN 0716533561Written by a member of the Trotskyist Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP), this book belongs to a sub-genre of labour history that sees history-writing as instrumental and is at pains to draw lessons regarding present-day socialist politics and … Read more
The Connolly Column: the story of the Irishmen who fought for the Spanish Republic 1936–1939 Michael O’Riordan (Warren and Pell, €22.50) ISBN 0954890426 How do we now see the Spanish Civil War of 70 years ago? What do we now think of its origins and the forces involved? The world—particularly Europe—has greatly changed. Fascism, as … Read more
The Three Richards: Richard I, Richard II and Richard III Nigel Saul (Hambledon and London, £19.99) ISBN 1852852860It is probably just as well that the present prince of Wales is called Charles and that the son likely to succeed him is called William. Anything but Richard, for of the three King Richards so far—Richard I, … Read more