MICHAEL KENNEDY & ART MAGENNIS Four Courts Press €40.50 ISBN 9781846825231 Reviewed by Thomas O’Loughlin To appreciate this important book one must note the opening sentences with care: ‘This book originates in a personal memoir by Comdt. Art Magennis of his service with the 35th Irish Battalion in Organisation de Nations Unies au Congo (ONUC) … Read more
LEO KEOHANE Merrion Press €20.25 pb, €49.95 hb ISBN 9781908928931 Reviewed by Angus Mitchell Of the many strands of radical thought to be reckoned with in the ideological crossfire of Ireland’s revolutionary years—nationalism, socialism, feminism, anti-imperialism, modernism, internationalism, pacifism and vegetarianism—the relevance of anarchism is notably understudied. Part of the reason is due to the … Read more
KEVIN MYERS Lilliput Press €20 ISBN 9781843516354 Reviewed by Myles Dungan Sometime back in the 1970s a seventeen-year-old UCD scholarship candidate faced the might of Prof. Kevin B. Nowlan and Prof. F.X. Martin in an oral examination. Early on in the inquisition he was asked by the affable Prof. Nowlan, ‘Can you name any Irishmen … Read more
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