The Madness: A Memoir of War, Fear and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, by Fergal Keane (William Collins, £10.99) Fergal Keane was born in London on January 6, 1961. His father, Eamon, was a professional actor, and his mother also “trod the boards”. He is a nephew of John B. Keane, the playwright. In his…
Kings, Druids and Traitors: Once Upon a Time in Ireland, by William Collins, (Doon Press, from Amazon.ie, €15.27 pb / €24.88 hb, ebook is €4.35) This is a darkly glowing saga, akin to the medieval dramas now so well-known from film and television in The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. The author…
From Bullets to Ballots: Politics and Electioneering in Post-Civil War Kerry, 1923-33, by Owen O’Shea (University College Dublin Press, €30.00 / £24.99) This is an account of how Kerry people emerged from the horrors of the Civil War, or as the author pithily puts it – how they settled their political differences by ballots…
From Crown to Harp: How the Anglo-Irish Treaty was Undone, 1921 – 1949, by David McCullagh (Gill Books, €26.99 / £25.99) This is an account of the three decades in Ireland which followed the War of Independence. Those years featured a number of remarkable Irish persons. Not least among them was Alfred O’Rahilly, an…
Listowel Food Fair: Tríoche Bliain ag Fás (Thirty Years a-Growing) 1995-2025, edited by James Deenihan and Annette McElligot (Listowel Food Fair, €20 + €4.00 p&p; email James Deenihan: info@listowelfoodfair.ie; copies locally from Woulfe’s Bookshop, 7 Church Street, Listowel) The Listowel Food Fair was established in 1995 by a committee headed by Jimmy Deenihan. However, much…
Unbeatable: Father Tom Jones: Handball Supremo, by Tom Looney (Red Stripe Press, €14.99) Tom Jones was born in Tralee, Co. Kerry, on December 23, 1868. In his early years, he attended the local Christian Brothers school and the local Dominican Classical school. As he intended to study for the priesthood in the diocese of Kerry,…
The Last Ditch: How one GAA Championship gave a Sports Writer back his Life, by Eamonn Sweeney (Hachette Books, €20.00 / £16.99) The author is a sportswriter and in the first two chapters reveals the challenges – phobias – which he has to overcome in plying his trade. In the rest of the book…
Across the Waves, by T. Ryle Dwyer (Mercier Press, €14.50) It is clear who is the heroine in this story. It is Margaret Harrigan, a heroine taken straight from the life of the author’s own family. T. Ryle Dwyer is well known throughout the south-west as a journalist and historian. It is quite a saga.…
New Perspectives on Conflict and Ireland in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Paul Huddie, Cathal Billings and Arlene Crampsie (Liverpool University Press, £105.00 / €121.00) This collection of essays is the product of a conference of historians at Liverpool University. The subject for discussion was “Conflict in Ireland in the Nineteenth Century”. The contributions…
Memorialising Émigré Dignity: The Cultural Heritage of St Anthony’s College, Leuven, Edited by Francis M. O’Donnell (Irish College, Leuven, €20.00) The Franciscan Irish College of St Anthony of Padua was founded by the rulers of the Spanish Netherlands, Archduke Albert and Infante Isabella, in May 1617. From the outset the main aim of the…