R. F. FOSTER Allen Lane €29.99 ISBN 9781846144639 Reviewed by Ronan Fanning ‘When did the Irish revolution begin?’ The question is Roy Foster’s point of departure, the pivot around which Vivid faces revolves. The core of the book is the ‘change of mentality, a change in hearts and minds’, that took place in the immediate … Read more
PÁDRAIG LENIHAN University College Dublin Press €42.85 ISBN 9781906359836 Reviewed by Martin Mansergh Few past military leaders are associated with melodies still played today. Handel’s glorious See the conquering hero comes was written in 1747 in honour of ‘Butcher’ Cumberland’s ruthless suppression of the Jacobites. Marshal Radetzky, who crushed revolution in northern Italy in 1849, … Read more
ROB GOODBODY Royal Irish Academy in association with Dublin City Council €30 ISBN 9781908996343 Reviewed by Arnold Horner Now in its fourth decade and operating under the auspices of the Royal Irish Academy, the Irish Historic Towns Atlas has produced a steady, impressive and quite distinctive flow of publications focusing on historical aspects of the … Read more
Robert Savage, Seán Lemass (UCD Press, €17 pb, 128pp, ISBN 9781906359874). The Lensman, The 1980s: Ireland in pictures (O’Brien Press, €14.99 pb, 176pp, ISBN 9781847173218). Orla and Terry Kelly with Michael Lenihan, Cork in the 1960s (Mercier Press, €29.99 hb, 240pp, ISBN 9781781172490). Paul Duffy, Galway City: snapshots through time (Currach Press, €19.99 pb, 128pp, … Read more
An Post’s museum is located in the historic General Post Office on O’Connell Street, which itself is due to be the centre of much attention next year, the centenary of the 1916 Rising. The chosen themes of the museum reflect its role as the headquarters of the postal service in Ireland and also as the … Read more