Voices from the Easter Rising, Ruán O’Donnell and Mícheál Ó hAodha (Merrion Press 2016)
Cries from the rubble of the Rising
J. Anthony Gaughan
The Rebels and the Law
After the Rising: Soldiers, lawyers and trials of the Irish Revolution by Seán Enright (Merrion Press, €19.99)
The legalities of revolution
Guilty but insane: J.C. Bowen-Colthurst: Villain or Victim? by James W. Taylor (Mercier Press, €19.99)
Catholic Ireland’s last martyr
Saint Oliver Plunkett: Journey to Sainthood by Tommy Burns (St Oliver Plunkett for Peace and Reconciliation Committee, €10.00)
Revolutionary times in the Kingdom of Kerry
Kerry 1916: Histories and Legacies of the Easter Rising: A Centenary Record edited by Bridget McAuliffe, Mary McAuliffe, Owen O’Shea (Irish Historical Publications, €25 pb / €35 hb)
Appalling vistas in Eastern Africa
Tall Grass: Stories of Suffering & Peace in Northern Uganda by Carlos Rodríguez Soto (Fountain Publishers, Kampala, Uganda, £23.00pb; available via Amazon) The author, a Spanish priest, is a member of the Comboni Missionary Society. He served for 25 years in the society’s mission in Northern Uganda. Apart from three years in Kampala, editing a diocesan magazine,…
Shane the Vain and the passing of the Old Ireland
Shane O’Neill by Ciaran Brady (Irish Historical Association/UCD Press, €17.00) This is an account of a complex character who lived in a period when the fortunes of the leaders of Irish Clans could change frequently and sometimes with dire consequences. Shane O’Neill was born into the O’Neill Clan c. 1530. The O’Neills at that time presided over…
Recalling times long gone
The Hurley Maker’s Son: A Memoir by Patrick Deeley (Doubleday Ireland, €17.99) J. Anthony Gaughan Patrick Deeley was born in a small farm near Loughrea, Co. Galway, in 1953. He was educated locally and attended St Patrick’s Teacher Training College in Drumcondra in Dublin. Subsequently he served as a principal in a primary school in Ballyfermot.…
The causes of our great disaster exposed
Recap: Inside Ireland’s Financial Crisis by Kevin Cardiff (The Liffey Press, €19.95) Every person in Ireland was affected in one way or another by the banking and financial services meltdown in 2008-2011. Kevin Cardiff, general secretary of the Department of Finance since 2010, was a key figure in the group charged with dealing with this grave…
Tomás Ó Sé’s own story
The White Heat: My Autobiography by Tomás Ó Sé (Gill & Macmillan 2015) The narrative in this autobiography is simple and direct, the way Tomás played his football: An Módh Díreach, as he himself would put it. Another refreshing aspect of it is the paucity of expletives. Notoriously his uncle Páidí’s autobiography was vitiated by an overload…