Joe Carroll As the editor warns the reader, this book is not “a shadow history of Ireland since 1922 covering all major events and phenomena through the lens of contemporary journalism” but it is probably unbeatable for showing how Ireland has changed in that time. In ‘The Taking of Cork’ in August 1922 written by…
Peter Costello
The hurlers on the ditch
The GAA and Radio Éireann 1926-2010: The story of the commentators who broadcast Gaelic Games, by Patrick P. Guthrie (Gemini International).
Small classic in Latin
Recently an odd little book, originally published in the US, came my way. Entitled Ave Ogden! Nash in Latin, it is the work of James C. Gleason and Brian N. Meyer and is a translation of the humorous poems of Ogden Nash into classical Latin. It was issued to the world round April 1, 1974…
A man who embraced the world
Pope John Paul II by Hugh Costello (History Press, €8.50/£6.99)
In praise of brevity
The occasion to have to break bad news to someone comes to everyone. It is, as Alan Palmer points out, simply a fact of life, yet how often it is badly, even damagingly handled. He focuses on resolving the conflict between the instinct of the person breaking the bad news to do so ‘gently’ can…
A controversial philosopher
John Toland’s Letters to Serena, edited by Ian Leask (Four Courts Press, €45.00/£47.70)
The cosmic vision of Teilhard de Chardin
A Mystic in Search of a Unifying Truth: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, by Dr Ellen Galvin RSC (Kindle Edition, €1.52/£1.28; complete paperback edition from Amazon.com, €50.65; ISBN 978-1489530431)
Saints and miracles over the centuries
Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?
Sacred Space for Lent 2014
(Irish Jesuits / Ave Maria Press, €3.75)
The Innocence of Fr Brown
by G. K. Chesterton (Penguin Books, €10.00/£6.99)