The Life and Times of Mary Ann McCracken (1770 – 1866) by Mary McNeill, (Irish Academic Press, €22.95 / £19.99) J. Anthony Gaughan This was first published in 1960. Ever since it has been valued by historians as an excellent biography of Mary Ann McCracken and a definitive account of the United Irishmen. Mary Ann was…
Discovering Thomas Moore: Ireland in 19th Century Europe Royal Irish Academy, Academy House, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2.An exhibition running to Monday, December 23, 2019; opening hours: Monday-Friday, 10am-4.30pm, no booking required. Booklet to accompany the exhibition by Sarah McCleave (Queen’s University / Erin Project / Royal Irish Academy), free. Thomas Moore, once deemed…
A Bloody Week: The Irish At Arnhem by Dan Harvey (Merrion Press, €14.95/ £12.99) Joe Carroll Arnhem is the latest in the series of books in which Dan Harvey, a retired Irish army officer, recounts the exploits of Irish combatants in well-known battles. But the attempt to seize the bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem…
The Brigidine Sisters in Ireland, America, Australia and New Zealand, 1807 – 1922 by Ann Power (Four Courts Press, €60.00) In this comprehensive study Dr Ann Power discusses all aspects of the lives and ministry of the Brigidine nuns and in doing so tells us a great deal about the making of modern Ireland. Bishop Daniel…
Beard Theology: A holy history of hairy faces, told by the Church Mouse illustrated by Dave Walker (Hodder & Stoughton, £12.99) We now live (at least in some Western countries) in an age of beards, if the five day stubble so many sport can be called beards. These unshaven faces are derided by others as mere…
Mainly About Books by the books editor At the beginning of the month the Brexit controversy took a surprising literary turn, which is worth a few considerations. Prime Minster Alexander Boris Pfeffell Johnson began it. (It is a sign of the sad times we live in that the mere use of a politician’s full…
St Patrick in his Own Words by Joseph Duffy with a new foreword by the author (Veritas, €12.99) This is not exactly a new book, but a reissue of a book for which there will be a noted demand, by both academics and general readers. It contains, with an appropriate introduction and notes, all the surviving…
The Glory and the Burden: the American Presidency from FDR to Trump by Robert Schmuhl (University of Notre Dame Press, $25 /£20.35) Felix M. Larkin Robert Schmuhl, professor emeritus of American Studies and Journalism at the University of Notre Dame, is well known in Ireland for his contributions to Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1.…
A School on a Mission: 140 years of the CBC on Wakefield Street by Lingard Goulding (Christian Brothers’ College, Adelaide SA, Aus$80.00/€40.00; copies through Veritas and Books Upstairs) Charles Edward Lysaght The author of this book, Lingard Goulding, was headmaster of Headfort School in Kells, a preparatory school founded around 1950 to prepare boys for…
Ireland’s Revolutionary Diplomat: A Biography of Leopold Kerney by Barry Whelan (University of Notre Dame Press, US$50.00 / €54.95) Joe Carroll Leopold Kerney has not been treated well by some Irish historians over his controversial meetings with a top level Nazi official and a German intelligence agent in Madrid during a critical phase of World…
Peter Costello