The Scotch-Irish: from the north of Ireland to the making of America Ron Chepesiuk (McFarland & Co., North Carolina, £17.95) 0786422734 To buy or not to buy? This is the constant dilemma we all face when we pick up a book that has just been published. With a long-standing and particular interest in the Scotch-Irish, … Read more
Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson: a political soldier Keith Jeffrey (Oxford University Press, £40, €57) ISBN 9780198203582Sir Henry Wilson has not been treated well by historians. As a soldier, he rose to the top of his profession and played a significant role in formulating Allied policy after 1917, which contributed to victory over the Central … Read more
Emergency Law in Ireland 1922–1948 Seosamh Ó Longaigh (Four Courts Press, €55) ISBN 9781851829224 The last years of British government in Ireland, 1916–21, saw the use of extraordinary legislation and military courts on a scale unprecedented since the eighteenth century. Individual executions, such as that of Kevin Barry in November 1920, undermined the legitimacy of … Read more
The Orange Order: a tradition betrayed Brian Kennaway (Methuen, £15.99, ?23.25) ISBN 0 413 77535 6 The author of this work has been an Orangeman for over 40 years and a senior member of the Grand Lodge of Ireland for 25; for years he has been one of the most public faces of Orangeism and … Read more
In our very first offering (HI 12.1, Spring 2004) Bookworm lavished particular praise on Peter Carr’s Portavo: an Irish townland and its peoples. But that was only Part One of this lavishly illustrated micro-study of one townland on the Ards peninsula, Co. Down, taking the story from the earliest times to 1844. Part Two: The … Read more