Sir, —As Lar Joye pointed out (HI 18.1, Jan./Feb. 2010), the story ofIrishmen in the Confederate Army is less well known than that of thosewho served with the Union. There is another category of Irishmen whohave received little attention—those who served in regular Union armyor in volunteer regiments that had no connection to the Irish … Read more
Sir, —The sidebar on Jim Larkin in Jerome aan de Wiel’s article on ‘Sabotage in the USA’ (HI 18.1, Jan./Feb. 2010) is interesting in that it raises associated issues about Larkin’s stay in America between late 1914 and early 1923. Over the years there has been much speculation as to why Larkin spent so … Read more
History Man: the life of R. G. Collingwood Fred Inglis (Princeton University Press, Ä33.55) IBSN 9780691130149 Robin George Collingwood was born on 22 February 1889 in the English Lake District and died there on 9 January 1943. He wrote extensively on the philosophy of art, metaphysics, the nature of knowledge, archaeology and religion, but … Read more
Behind the Green Curtain: Ireland’s phoney neutrality during World War II T. Ryle Dwyer (Gill and Macmillan, €25) ISBN 9780717146383 The reasons for Irish neutrality during the Second World War are widely accepted: that any attempt to take an overtly pro-British line might have resulted in a replay of the Civil War; that Southern … Read more
The Big House in the North of Ireland: land, power and social elites, 1878–1960 Olwen Purdue (University College Dublin Press, Ä60hb/Ä28pb) ISBN 9781906359218 hb, 9781906359256 pb Singing of the beleaguered stately homes of England, Noel Coward observed: ‘Though the fact that they have to be rebuilt And frequently mortgaged to the hilt Is … Read more