Days of the Blackthorn: Faction Fighters of Kerry by Seán Moraghan (Mercier Press, €16.99) In the early part of the 19th Century especially, faction fighting was a feature of rural life throughout Munster. The Catholic clergy were unable to prevent it, despite their strenuous efforts, local magistrates turned a Nelson eye on it and some…
The Enchantment of Mammon: How Capitalism became the Religion of Modernity by Eugene McCarraher (The Belknap Press / Harvard University Press, $US39.95/£31.95) Frank Litton This is a vitally important book, likely to attract considerable attention among critics and readers. I reckon it could have an impact similar to Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue back in 1997. Certainly…
In 1803 Emanuel Schikaneder, who collaborated with Mozart on The Magic Flute but was then director of Vienna’s Theater an der Wien, approached Beethoven with an operatic libretto – Vestas Feuer (Vestal Flame). Initially the composer reacted favourably and completed almost two scenes before becoming disenchanted and laying it aside. However, two of its arias…
As I wrote a few weeks ago, I’ve always thought that religious belief and practice has to make sense on a human level. One of our human characteristics seems to be a need for ritual. Some rituals are faith related, but when the ritual lingers after the faith has been left behind I feel there’s…
St Thérèse of Lisieux in Scotland 2019 (The Bishops Conference of Scotland / Scottish Catholic Observer, €6.99 + €6.99 p&p. Order from books@sconews.co.uk, phone 0044-141-241-6106. Arrangements are being made to distribute the book in Ireland.) The tour of the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux in Ireland is still for devotees of the…
Ireland in the European Eye edited by Gisela Holfter and Bettina Migge (Royal Irish Academy, €25.00) Joe Carroll This large book (515 pages) is billed as “a comprehensive survey of Ireland’s place in Europe, providing a detailed narrative of a cultural relationship that began with Irish missionaries bringing Christianity and learning to the continent”. The…
The Legacy of the Irish Parliamentary Party in Independent Ireland, 1922-1949 by Martin O’Donoghue (Liverpool University Press, £80.00). Felix M. Larkin Conor Cruise O’Brien, the grandson of a long-time Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) MP, was once discussing the 1916 Rising and its aftermath with his father-in-law, Seán McEntee, a 1916 veteran and foundation…
The World of Books Back in the 1950s, when such a case was less common, an Irish poet was teaching a course on modern Ireland literature in a US university. He chose James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) as the text for the semester. By the time he was…
Last week I wrote about the March for Life in Washington. During the week other significant gatherings came across my radar. Most bizarre of all was the march on Washington portrayed in Messiah, an intriguing 10-part drama series on Netflix. This dramatic march was led by a character thought by his followers to be the…
Richard Jewell (15) You’ve got to hand it to Clint Eastwood – at 89 years old, he’s still churning out great films. I’d never heard of Richard Jewell before seeing this. In July 1996, the overweight security guard noticed a suspicious-looking knapsack under a bench at Atlanta’s Olympic Games. It turned out to contain a bomb.…
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello
Aubrey Malone