Martin Duffy (Liberties Press, €17.99) ISBN 9781907593468 This book chronicles how the general workers in Guinness’s brewery became unionised and ended up as members of Larkin’s Workers Union of Ireland (WUI). It tells this story through looking at the career of Jack Carruthers, a brewery labourer and later the full-time WUI branch secretary. Carruthers was … Read more
Adrian Grant (Four Courts Press, €50) ISBN 9781846823619 This is an important book that tackles big issues. Adrian Grant makes a strong case for the compatibility of socialism and republicanism and argues that splits between left-republicans, radical socialists and communists were based on ‘practicalities’ rather than theoretical differences. But if the problem was one of … Read more
Francis Devine (ed.) (Four Courts Press, €24.95) ISBN 9781907002106 The centenary of the Lockout has generated a new interest in the period that goes beyond just historians and trade union activists. With James Plunkett’s remarkable novel Strumpet city on the lips and minds of many Dubliners thanks to the ‘One City, One Book’ campaign, there … Read more
A labour history of Ireland 1824–2000 Emmet O’Connor (UCD Press, €34.50) ISBN 9781906359560 When I saw that UCD Press had brought out a refreshed and updated version of this book—so long out of print—I must admit that I felt something akin to relief. With the study of working-class history in Ireland enjoying a significant resurgence … Read more
In keeping with the Lockout theme, Bookworm has cast the net a bit wider for this issue, which means that the first and most obvious book to mention is a novel: James Plunkett’s classic Strumpet city (Gill & Macmillan, €10.99pb, 560pp, ISBN 9780717156108). Plunkett’s epic was chosen for the Dublin Public Libraries ‘One City, One … Read more