By Joseph E.A. Connell Jr A member of Dublin’s middle class, Tom Kettle joined the Irish Volunteers at their inception in 1913. Previously, he had been a Home Ruler and described it thus: ‘Home Rule is the art of minding your own business well. Unionism is the art of minding someone else’s business badly.’ Later, … Read more
RICHARD BOURKE and IAN McBRIDE (eds) Princeton University Press £34.95 ISBN 9780691154060 Reviewed by: James Smyth One contributor to this volume, Matthew Kelly, identifies ‘the quasi-military character of the RIC’ as a manifestation ‘of British power in Ireland’, while another, Marc Mulholland, notes that, together with the British army garrison, that ‘semi-military and overtly political’ … Read more
MARTIN J. McCLEERY Manchester University Press £70 ISBN 9780719096303 Reviewed by: Clifford Peeples WhenGeorge Santayana made his observation that ‘history is always written wrong, and so always needs to be rewritten’, he could easily have been making it about the subject of Martin McCleery’s book. The populist thought on the introduction of internment is clear: … Read more
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