Sir,—In his article ‘The talented Mr MacCarthy Mór’ (HI 19.3, May/June 2011) Seán J. Murphy quite rightly points out that the 1999 edition of my Erin’s blood royal carried a foreword by the man who was then recognised by the chief herald of Ireland, and therefore by the Irish state, as ‘the MacCarthy Mór’. This … Read more
Sir,—In his letter in the last issue (HI 19.3, May/June 2011) James Fitzgerald is quite correct to state that Martin Corry was merely the captain of the Knockraha company of the IRA. As such, he was a minor figure in the conflict in Cork. He is also correct to state that the company had a … Read more
In 1899 Arthur Griffith established the first of his separatist newspapers, The United Irishman. Through the power of his writing in The United Irishman, Sinn Féin and Nationality, Griffith shaped and set in motion many of the forces that influenced the organisations and individuals of the revolutionary years. Yet he spent his life in near … Read more
In the recent excellent Why pamper life’s complexities? Essays on the Smiths, co-edited by Seán Campbell and sociologist Colin Coulter, a recurring theme was the Irish heritage at the heart of the upbringing of members of the band. Those familiar with the politics and ideology of the band’s much-worshipped front man, Morrissey, were undoubtedly not … Read more
Martyn Frampton’s Legion of the rearguard is an attempt to come to terms with the veritable alphabet soup of ‘dissident’ (itself a contested term) Irish republicanism. His contribution is the first major work on the subject since Mooney and O’Toole’s Black operations: the secret war against the Real IRA, now almost ten years old and … Read more