LIAM KENNEDY Merrion Press €22.50 ISBN 9781785370281 Reviewed by: Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh This collection of nine essays deals with Irish history across three periods. The first three provide the long view: ‘A Most Oppressed People?’, ‘The Planter and the Gael’ and ‘Nationalism and Unionism in Ireland’. The framework of the latter chapter, Kennedy himself admits, … Read more
PAUL BEW Oxford University Press £16.99 ISBN 9780198755210 Reviewed by: Martin Mansergh The problem facing balanced assessment of Churchill’s dealings with Ireland is the weighting to be given to his instinctive belligerence—thankfully not always followed through—versus sugar-coated professions of goodwill towards an ideal Ireland and the loyal fighting Irish. Paul Bew’s case that Churchill was … Read more
Michael English, The three castles of Dublin: an eclectic history of Dublin through the evolution of the city’s coat of arms (Dublin City Council/Four Courts Press, €26.95 hb, 272pp, ISBN 9781907002267). Mary McAuliffe and Liz Gillis, Richmond Barracks 1916: we were there—77 women of the Easter Rising (Dublin City Council/Four Courts Press, €22.45 pb, 276pp, … Read more
GPO Witness History O’Connell Street, www.gpowitnesshistory.ie Revolution 1916 Ambassador Theatre, Parnell Square, www.revolution1916.ie Kilmainham Gaol Museum www.kilmainhamgaolmuseum.ie By Tony Canavan The new permanent exhibition at the GPO certainly shows all the signs of the millions of euro spent on it. It is visually impressive, with its recreation of the post office as it would … Read more
ANU Productions Moore Street, Dublin 1, 19 April–7 May 2016 By the time this review appears, the centenary commemoration of the Easter Rising will have been and gone, and in time will surely join other commemorative initiatives—such as the 150th anniversary of the Famine and the bicentenary of 1798, and indeed the 50th anniversary of … Read more