Diarmaid Ferriter lectures in history at St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra. Clodagh Tait is a postgraduate history student at University College Cork; Hans S. Pawlisch works at the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington DC; Mícheál Ó Siochrú lectures in early modern Irish history at Trinity College, Dublin; Dominic Bryan lectures … Read more
For a long time Irish nationalism was seen primarily in terms of political movements, and there has been a tendency to identify with mass movements rather than elites. Recent theories which emphasise how educational and social obstacles to upward mobility for minorities in a professional society encourage nationalist movements has revived interest in the Catholic … Read more
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
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
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