Presbyterians and the Irish Language Roger Blaney (Ulster Historical Foundation/The Ultach Trust, £6.50) ISBN 0-901905-75-5 Reviewed by Caoimhghin Ó Murchadha The events of last summer raised many questions about the nature and exercise of certain aspects of unionist cultural traditions in the North. Whilst historically it is the case that only a minority of the … Read more
Maynooth College: 1795-1995 Patrick J. Corish (Gill and Macmillan, £40) ISBN: 0-7171-2241-7 Reviewed by Thomas O’Loughlin For the two centuries of its existence Maynooth has been close to the centre of Irish life and controversy. There is not a corner of the island which has not felt the effects of its alumni, or of decisions … Read more
Thomas O’Loughlin lectures in theology at the University of Wales,Lampeter. Caoimhghin Ó Murchadha is a postgraduate history student at the University of Ulster, Coleraine. Kenneth Nicholls lectures in Irish history at University College Cork. Bernard Crick is Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh. Peter Gray lectures in history at the University of Southampton.
Over the past quarter century the Irish land question has been the subject of a barrage of historical inquiry. Traditional nationalist interpretations have been deconstructed and inverted, the class composition and objectives of agrarian movements dissected, and the triangular political relationships between these organisations, landowners and the British government examined in depth. Building on this … Read more
Unionism in Modern Ireland: new perspectives on politics and culture Richard English and Graham Walker (eds.) (Gill and Macmillan, £12.99) ISB: 0-7171-2465-7 Rethinking Unionism: an alternative vision for Ireland Norman Porter (Blackstaff, £10.99) ISBN 0-85640-585-X When I was a student in London in the late 1940s I was much impressed by Harold Laski’s love of … Read more