MICHAEL RYAN Mercier Press €17.99 ISBN 9781781175187 Reviewed by Fergus Whelan Much has been written about the IRA in the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. Historians, journalists and participants have published studies on the role of the Provisional IRA in our more recent ‘troubles’. Not nearly as much attention, however, has been … Read more
SHANE NAGLE Bloomsbury £91.80 ISBN 9781474263764 Reviewed by Angus Mitchell In 1954 the Cambridge historian Herbert Butterfield inaugurated the Wiles lecture series at Queen’s University, Belfast. In his opening address, titled‘The history of historiography’, he argued that German historians had much to answer for: ‘In their function of eliciting or discerning the essential traditions of … Read more
Duke Leopold’s Irish subjects and Jacobitism in Lorraine, 1698–1727. By Stephen Griffin and Jérémy Filet The duchy of Lorraine reclaimed its sovereignty from France in 1697 under the terms of the Treaty of Ryswick. Lorraine, a small state situated between France and the Holy Roman Empire, had suffered depopulation and economic ruin throughout the seventeenth … Read more
THEO FARRELL Bodley Head £25 ISBN 9781847923462 Reviewed by Lar Joye A story is told of a British Army regimental commander in the early 2000s meeting a group of Afghan elders who gave out to him for burning down their local market-place. Returning to his HQ, he demanded to know what idiot had burnt down … Read more
PAUL O’BRIEN Collins Press €19.99 ISBN 9781848893061 Reviewed by Eamonn T. Gardiner Although painting a vivid picture for readers,Paul O’Brien’s latest offering falls short of thepromised ‘balanced examination’ promised. With this work O’Brien, who has previously established himself as an authority on military strategies during the Anglo-Irish War, dips his toe into the morenuanced world … Read more