‘A failed political entity’: Charles Haughey and the Northern Ireland question, 1945–1992

STEPHEN KELLY Merrion Press €24.95 ISBN 9781785370977 Reviewed by: Martin Mansergh While many books have been written about Charles Haughey by journalists, this is the first academic study focused on his Northern Ireland policy and that draws on archival sources available until the mid-1980s. For that reason alone it will be widely consulted. It is … Read more

Family rhythms: the changing textures of family life in Ireland

JANE GRAY, RUTH GERAGHTY and DAVID RALPH Manchester University Press £16.99 ISBN 9780719091520 Reviewed by: Mary Corcoran Mary Corcoran is Professor of Sociology at Maynooth University. What a joy to review a sociological work that is empirically rich and theoretically driven while avoiding a retreat into the obtuse and the arcane. Family rhythms: the changing … Read more

Frontiers, states and identity in early modern Ireland and beyond: essays in honour of Steven G. Ellis

CHRISTOPHER MAGINN and GERALD POWER (eds) Four Courts Press €55 ISBN 9781846826054 Reviewed by: David Edwards David Edwards is Senior Lecturer in History at University College Cork. For 40 years Steven Ellis has been a significant figure in the history of late medieval and early modern Ireland. An authority on the Tudor monarchy, specialising particularly … Read more

Forgotten patriot: Douglas Hyde and the foundation of the Irish presidency

BRIAN MURPHY Collins Press €15.99 ISBN 9781848892903 Reviewed by: Tom Garvin Tom Garvin is emeritus Professor of Politics at University College Dublin. Brian Murphy has produced a well-researched and thoroughgoing biography of Douglas Hyde, first president of Ireland under the 1937 Constitution. Hyde was born in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon, in 1860, son of a Protestant … Read more