by Joseph E.A. Connell Jr In 1913, members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) in Dublin began drilling in secret. While drilling continued, the IRB requested Bulmer Hobson to approach The O’Rahilly, a prominent nationalist, to ask him to approach Eoin MacNeill, Professor of Early and Medieval Irish History in University College Dublin. MacNeill had … Read more
Ronan Fanning (Faber and Faber, £16.99) ISBN 9780571297399 ‘There is a path of fatality which pursues the relations between the two countries and makes them eternally at cross purposes’ (David Lloyd George, House of Commons, 22 December 1919). Author Ronan Fanning says: ‘Fatal path is simply a case study in the high politics of how … Read more
Billy Colfer (Cork University Press, €49) ISBN 9781859184936 Few counties in Ireland have been better served by their scholars and writers than Wexford—and, of these, no one has better honoured his county’s landscapes and people than Billy Colfer. Wexford castles is not only a worthy successor to his monographs The Hook Peninsula (2004) and Wexford: … Read more
James Kelly and Mary Ann Lyons (eds) (Irish Academic Press, Dublin, €27.95) ISBN 9780716531913 This publication presents the essays from the 30th biennial Irish Conference of Historians, which was held at NUI Maynooth in 2011 with death and dying as its theme. It provides fourteen essays by expert historians and archaeologists and makes a welcome … Read more
Kevin O’Sullivan (Manchester University Press, £65) ISBN 9780719086021 Historic ties between Ireland and Africa run deep. The earliest mission stations along the Congo River were founded by the Grattan Guinness family back in the 1870s. They provided King Leopold II with the stepping-stones for building his Congo Free State. In 1900 the Kells-born historian Alice … Read more