Joseph Plunkett was the primary planner of the Rising, and the objective was that the Volunteers and Citizen Army would seize strategic buildings throughout Dublin in order to cordon off the city and resist the coming attacks by units of the British army. The Volunteers’ plan had two elements: first, to prevent British access to … Read more
In his memoir Rebellions, Tom Dunne gives what I suspect is the enduring image of T. Desmond Williams (1921–87), professor of modern history in UCD for nearly 40 years, for many students who encountered him in his later years. Dunne writes, after noting Williams’s eccentric teaching methods, ‘I was never very interested in the already … Read more
This is an important book, which bypasses polemics for and against the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) under John Redmond’s leadership from 1900 to 1915, before the Rising. The focus is the party’s MPs, not the leadership. Alexis de Tocqueville in The Ancien Régime and the Revolution underlined a surprising continuity in institutions and political culture … Read more
In these days of steel, concrete and plastic we have forgotten what a fundamental raw mat-erial timber once was. It was crucial to shipbuilding until the first iron-hulled vessels of the 1800s; buildings, even when of stone or brick, needed timber for their roof crucks and beams; charcoal fuelled early industry; wooden barrel staves were … Read more
Iohannes Scotus Eriugena was one of the most fascinating characters of the Middle Ages and Eoghan Mac Aogáin has been able to transmit his charm. His book creates a very clear and captivating portrayal of the Irish philosopher as a multi-sided man: a teacher, a poet, a naturalist and a thinker. His narrative style, which … Read more