En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule by Édouard Louis (published in English as The End of Eddy)   The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland has become a staple of the international political agenda. It is a gathering of the great and good in the picturesque setting of the Alps and brings together the world of politics,…

Gandhi: The Years that Changed the World 1914-1945 by Ramachandra Guha London: Allen Lane, 2018, £40 Patrick 
Claffey
 SVD   In 1911 the British authorities decided to move the capital of their Indian Empire from Calcutta to Delhi. They set about doing this by creating a new district that came to be known as New Delhi. The work…

Medieval Pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela by Bernadette Cunningham (Four Court Press, €19.95) I never pass St James’s Gate in Dublin without thinking of that ancient city portal as the starting place of the medieval version of the Camino. It has long seemed to me those wishing to promote the way of St James here in Ireland…

A Century of Politics in the Kingdom: A County Kerry Compendium by Owen O’Shea and Gordon Revington (Merrion Press, €19.95) This is a comprehensive account of local politics and the democratic process in Co. Kerry across more than two centuries. It covers in fact the rise of modern democracy in Ireland, and its preservation, often against…

Aquinas and the Market: Towards a Humane Economy by Mary L. Hirschfeld (Cambridge, Mass. & London: Harvard University Press, £35.95) Money: In ‘Sireacht: Longing for another Ireland series’ by Conor McCabe (Cork University Press, £9.95) Frank
 Litton   I was speaking to one of our eminent economists recently. He reported on a meeting of the American Economic Association. He found the…

The Book of Common Prayer: The texts of 1549. 1559, and 1662 edited with an introduction and Notes by Brian Cummings (Oxford World Classics, £10.99) Though its influence over English life and writing since the reign of the Tudors has been immense, almost as great as the King James Bible itself, the Book of Common Prayer, the…

The World of Books by the books editor   With Twelfth Night, the Epiphany, Old Christmas and the Christmas of the Eastern Churches behind us wherever we are, the holiday season is truly past. The Christmas trees have come down, along with the lights, tinsel and holly, the cards received have been packed away as…

The Martins of Lisieux by Michael O’Connell (St Thérèse National Office, 56 Angier Street, Dublin 2, €5.00; contact Pat Sweeney at 086-819-8186) This brochure is a work of pietas by a devotee of St Thérèse. The beautifully illustrated booklet is in two parts, the first concerns the grave of the saint, the second the burial place of the…

Irish Parliamentarians: deputies and senators, 1918-2018 by Anthony White (Institute of Public Administration, €60.00) Felix
 M.
 Larkin   It is axiomatic that we get the politicians we deserve. We elect them, so we have nobody to blame but ourselves. However, while our politicians generally get a bad press, we in Ireland have been reasonably well served by them.…

Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain by Fintan O’Toole (Head of Zeus, £11.99) Peter
 Hegarty   In writing his latest book, leading commentator Fintan O’Toole set himself a task: “What I have attempted here is simply one possible answer to the most obvious question: how did a great nation bring itself to the point of…