Mainly About Books By the books editor The other day there came into my hands a unique book, quite unknown I think to readers outside Italy. It is called Monte Cassino under Fire: War Diaries from the Abbey, by Eusebio Grossetti and Martino Matronola, edited by Faustino Avagliano (Abbazia di Montecassino, 2018). My father…
The Badly Behaved Bible: Thinking again about the story of Scripture by Nick Page (Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99) This is a book which many people really need, but do not realise that they do. Anyone truly interested in the power of the Scriptures should read it. I suspect that for many people it may have a…
What Have the Irish ever Done for Us? by David Forsythe (Currach Books, €14.99). This is an interesting collection of brief biographical accounts of Irish people who have made a significant impact on the world at large. The author defines an Irish person as one born in Ireland, or residing in the country, or identifying as…
The History and Heritage of St James’s Hospital Dublin by Davis Coakley & Mary Coakley (Four Courts Press, €40.00) These days the site at St James’s Hospital has become a controversial place due to the development scheme for the National Children’s hospital, which has in recent times been taking up so much space in the newspapers.…
Shaping Ireland: Landscapes in Irish Art National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Square, Dublin Beit Wing Rooms 6-10, Exhibition runs to July 7 These days, when everyone is so conscious of the world around them and with environmental matters, it will come as a surprise to many to discover that the admiration of landscape is quite…
A Broad Church: the Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland, 1969-1980 Gearóid Ó Faoleán (Merrion Press, €19.95 / £16.99) Felix M. Larkin The controversial – and, for some, uncomfortable – argument of this book is that, to quote from it, “there was a sizable though ultimately immeasurable [sic] body of tolerance, if not support, for militant…
Every Tribe: Stories of diverse saints serving a diverse world edited by Sharon Prentis (SPCK, £9.99) Myles na Gopaleen, in one of his contrary moods, used to wonder about whether the great Augustine was in life a black African (though he used words to that effect that cannot now be used). The saint was certainly born…
Christus Vivit / Christ is Alive, Apostolic Exhortation to Young people and to the Entire people of God by Pope Francis (Veritas, €4.99 / £4.31) The text of the post-synodal apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis, written in response to the Fifteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, on young people, faith, and vocational discernment,…
Mainly About Books by the books editor The fire which ravaged Notre-Dame in Paris shook not just France, but the whole word. The edifice was not merely just another site on the European tourist trail, it was a place which has rightly been seen as a mirror of the soul of France herself. Its…
A Concise History of the Sunnis and Shi’is by John McHugo (Saqui Books, £20.00) John Bruton A few years back, very few Westerners would have been aware of the distinction between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam. The aftermath of the invasion of Iraq changed all that. In a timely book, entitled A Concise History of…
Peter Costello