Issue 1 (Spring 2000)

Defending Ireland: the Irish Free State and its Enemies since 1922, Eunan O’Halpin. (Oxford University Press, £25) ISBN 0198204264

That Ireland escaped the familiar pattern of post-colonial military despotism is remarkable given that our political forebears emerged from a militant milieu. The transition from militancy to constitutional democracy is best examined in the context of the State’s attitude to violence. Beginning with a refreshingly candid account of the civil war, Defending Ireland traces the … Read more

Cromwell in Ireland, James Scott Wheeler. (Gill & Macmillan, £19.99) ISBN 0717128849

In the seventeenth-century poem ‘Tuireamh na hÉireann’, the war in Ireland between 1641 and 1653 is described as ‘an cogadh do chríochnaigh Éire’ [the war that finished Ireland], and there is no disputing the importance of Cromwell’s impact on this conflict. He landed at Ringsend in August 1649, and during the subsequent nine-month campaign displayed … Read more

Orangeism: the Making of a Tradition, Kevin Haddick-Flynn. (Wolfhound Press, £30) ISBN 0863276598. The Faithful Tribe: An Intimate Portrait of the Loyal Institutions, Ruth Dudley Edwards. (Harper Collins, £17.99) ISBN 0002558637

Up until this year there had been a dearth of work on the Orange Order. This was bound to change as once again issues over the right to parade have gripped the north of Ireland. Both Orangeism: The Making of a Tradition by Kevin Haddick-Flynn and The Faithful Tribe: An Intimate Portrait of the Loyal … Read more

Buckingham in Ireland, Victor Treadwell. (Four Courts Press, £45) ISBN 1851822739

Victor Treadwell’s early works on Irish customs reform and the Irish Commission of 1622 have long been fundamental reading for anyone seeking to understand the inner workings of Irish administration during the early Stuart period. He has produced another major contribution to both Irish and English historical scholarship by concentrating on the political and social … Read more

Luxury and Austerity: Historical Studies XXI, Jacqueline Hill and Colm Lennon (eds.). (University College Dublin Press, £30) ISBN 1900621223

This volume in the Historical Studies series is a collection of thirteen papers from the twenty-third Conference of Historians held in Maynooth in May 1997. The choice of the theme of ‘Luxury and Austerity’ was inspired by the much-vaunted ‘Celtic Tiger’ phenomenon, but the themes covered by these papers stray beyond the concepts of the … Read more