The World of Books   Si Newhouse died the other day, and as the American millionaire owner of some high-profile titles such as Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, he was something of a celebrity, a celebrity however with a dubious reputation. The name of André Schiffrin [pictured] may not be so familiar to many,…

Atlas of the Irish Revolution edited by John Crowley, Donal Ó Drisceoil, and Mike Murphy, with associate editor John Borgonovo (Cork University Press, €59.00) Felix 
M.
 Larkin The many plaudits this volume has received since its publication in mid-September are well justified. It is an epic production, running to almost 1,000 pages and weighing in at five kilos.…

Life is a Funny Business: A Very Personal Story by Alan Shatter (Poolbeg, €16.99) Peter
 Hegarty In a candid affecting book Alan Shatter takes us into the “deep recesses of my mind”. The deepest, darkest recess holds the memory of the cold December afternoon in 1965 when he returned home to find his mother Elaine dead on…

Grave Matters: Death and Dying in Dublin from 1500 to the Present by Lisa Marie Griffith & Ciarán Wallace (Four Courts Press, €24.95) Peter
 Costello   One of the stranger experiences of  my childhood was a visit to the vaults of  old St Michan’s where it was then possible not only to see the coffins of the…

The Belfast Jacobin: Samuel Neilson and the United Irishmen by Kenneth L. Dawson (Irish Academic Press, €22.99) Ian
 d’Alton   This biography of one of the lesser-known founding members of the Society of United Irishmen is engaging, readable and impressively researched. The stories of United Irishmen like Tone, Drennan and Lord Edward Fitzgerald are well-known – but…

A Bloody Night: The Irish at Rorke’s Drift by Dan Harvey (Merrion Press, €14.99) A Bloody Day: The Irish at Waterloo by Dan Harvey (Merrion Press, €14.99) J.
 Anthony
 Gaughan   These are interesting accounts by the same author of two very different battles, but which  had one thing in common – the participation of Irish soldiers. Rorke’s Drift…

Czech Architectural Cubism by Zdenék Lukeš and Ester Havlová (Jaroslav Fregner Gallery, Prague, €10.00; on sale at IAA)   The Irish Architectural Archive is currently running an exhibition, “Czech Architectural Cubism”, which should not be missed by anyone interested about how architecture, including indeed church architecture, might have developed in Ireland in the 1920s. Czechs…

Sam Maguire: The Man and The Cup by Kieran Connolly (Mercier Press, €12.99)   As last week’s dramatic victory by Dublin over Mayo showed, the Sam Maguire Cup is much better known than the man after whom it was named and honours. This opportune account of Sam Maguire and noteworthy occasions and persons associated with…

Crimes of the Father by Thomas Keneally (Sceptre Books, £19.99) Pauric Travers Almost 50 years ago, schoolteacher and aspiring writer Thomas Keneally won his second Miles Franklin award for Three Cheers for the Paraclete, a novel set in the Irish-Australian Catholic community which explores the conflict between faith, obedience, freedom and authority. Half a century and…

The Dublin Lockout 1913: New perspectives on Class War and its Legacy Conor McNamara and Padraig Yeates (Irish Academic Press, €24.99 pb/ €44.99hb) Tom Morrissey The Lockout centenary commemoration was a triumph of careful organisation, hard work and trade union support. In the process, James Larkin was glorified, his failings largely ignored. The Great Strike / Lockout…