Lonely Mystic: A new portrait of Henri J.M. Nouwen by Michael Ford (Paulist Press, $16.95 / £12.99) Anthony Redmond What is the reason for the enduring appeal of Henri Nouwen? This Dutch Catholic priest and celebrated spiritual writer died in 1996 at the age of 64. His appeal, for me, is his vulnerability, openness, sensitivity and…
The World of Books by the books editor During the Presidential election a native minority found themselves the focus of unwelcome attention. I was surprised at quite how confused many people, city dwellers for the most part, were about the social group now usually called ‘Travellers’. I find this a difficult word. The corollary…
The Wrong Country: Essays on Modern Irish Writing by Gerald Dawe (Irish Academic Press, €22.95) Derek Hand Gerald Dawe’s collection of essays offers a very engaging assessment of Irish writing in the last 100 years. His survey of the scene, filtered through the lens of his being a lecturer and poet, brings enthusiasm to the task,…
Michael O’Leary: Turbulent times for the man who made Ryanair by Matt Cooper (Penguin Ireland, €14.95 / £14.99) Frank Litton Michael O’Leary stands out among Ireland’s entrepreneurs. Is this because of his great success? His personality? The fact that so many of us have flown with his airline? Matt Cooper’s account of this “prince among men” will…
Beautiful Thoughts for Beautiful Minds by John Scally (Currach Press, €14.99) For a long time I have valued collections of poems, short stories and essays as the best kind of bedside books. They provide just enough to allow the old brain to run down and come to rest, and to allow me to drift away into…
A Flavour of Kylemore Abbey by the Sisters of the Community (Columba Books, €24.99) When this book came to hand, I turned over the pages to see what made this cook book different from all the others that flood the market. My attention was immediately taken by a recipe for Frangipane Mince Pies, the last one in the…
Living With The Gods: On Beliefs and Peoples by Neil MacGregor (Allen Lane, £30) Patrick Claffey Neil MacGregor, the distinguished British art historian and museum director, is currently the creator of the Humboldt Forum, a new centre for world culture in Berlin. Many will have seen exhibitions or read his books, including A History of the World…
From Partition to Brexit: The Irish Government and Northern Ireland by Donnacha ó Beacháin (Manchester University Press, £75.00 hb / £22.99 pb) Peter Hegarty Donnacha Ó Beacháin, Associate Professor of Politics at the School of Law and Government at DCU, begins and ends his book with discussions of the Ulster question’s affronts to democracy. Partition, he tells us, was an…
The World of Books by the books editor This weekend the world will mark, in different ways, the centenary of the armistice that brought the fighting in the Great War, otherwise ‘the war to end all wars’, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month 1918. These commemorations of the…
The Liberties by Maurice Curtis (Currach Press, €14.99) The Back of the Hack: Growing Up in the Liberties by Kathleen Clifford (A & A Farmar, €15.00) Some years ago author Maurice Curtis brought out a history of the Liberties, that district of Dublin to the south west that once lay outside the city walls, and where over…
Peter Costello