By Seán Whitney John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in a letter from Armagh in 1769 warned his followers not to take snuff, and noted that the Irish were like ‘no other nation in Europe in such vile bondage to this silly, nasty, dirty custom’. Whether it was in the form of snuff or pipe … Read more
By Saskia Vermeulen In this issue we discover the Guinness Film Society Film Group, an amateur film-making group set up in February 1968 when Mike Lawlor, then chairman of the Guinness Film Society, proposed its establishment to the committee. The Guinness Film Society, in existence since the early 1950s, was one of a number that … Read more
By Barry Sheppard The year 1949 marked a watershed in post-war America. According to theologian Richard Gribble, in the years immediately following the Second World War Americans lived through an unprecedented period of prosperity and fear. A united push behind the war effort had been able, at least temporarily, to smooth over some of the … Read more
By Jack Traynor Widely regarded as Ireland’s foremost fascist leader, public awareness of Eoin O’Duffy’s career generally hinges on his leadership of the Blueshirts (1933–5) and his involvement in the Spanish Civil War as head of the Irish Brigade (1936–7). His activities during the Emergency (1939–45) have largely been overlooked, with the exception of a … Read more
By Tim Carey One of the best-known images of Dublin’s mid-twentieth-century cultural life is a cartoon called Dublin Culture. In it are nearly 40 people—all men—in the back room of the Palace Bar on Dublin’s Fleet Street. Among the tables and drinks there is a unique generation of journalists, writers and artists: Flann O’Brien is … Read more