J. Anthony Gaughan He was Galway: Máirtín Mór McDonogh, 1860 -1934, by Jackie Uí Chionna (Open Air/Four Courts Press, €19.95). This is a valuable biography of a truly remarkable person. The book’s title does not exaggerate. Máirtín Mór McDonogh (1860–1934) was a central figure in the civic life of Galway city and county for most…
Dirty Secrets: What To Do About Tax Havens by Richard Murphy (Verso, £12.99) Tax avoidance is one of the greatest difficulties besetting the world economy. Accountant and tax campaigner Richard Murphy estimates that 10% – maybe more – of the world’s wealth is hidden away in tax havens. Taxed, the secreted trillions would provide more…
The World of Books How often do people involved with the book trade meet people parties, who say “I would love to write a book about my life, or even a novel, but I haven’t the time”. Of course that is the difference between wanting to do something and doing it. Those that really want…
Father Mychal Judge, An Authentic American Hero by Michael Ford (Paulist Press, £15.99) Anthony Redmond Fr Judge, an Irish American Franciscan, died in the attack on the World Trade Centre as he gave the Last Rites to a dying fireman. During the last weeks of his life, Fr Mychal Judge had been reading the biography…
Christmas in the Cross Hairs: Two Thousand Years of Denouncing and Defending the World’s Most Celebrated Holiday by Chris Bowler (Oxford University Press, £20.00) In this first week of the New Year it may seem a little late to be reviewing a book about the history of the holiday that we have just got safely…
J. Anthony Gaughan Walter Carpenter: A Revolutionary Life by Ellen Galvin RSC (East Wall History Group, €5, or a donation to Cycle for Suicide charity; contact East Wall History Group at eastwallhistory@gmail.com) This little biography of Walter Carpenter is an authentic expression of Pietas. Written by a granddaughter, a retired nun based in Dublin, it…
Christmas is now generally a time of universal celebration and festivity. But the days after the Nativity were different: after the joy of the new child came cruelty and persecution. As always the Bible is pervaded by a sense of the reality of human affairs that people, swept away by sentiment, so often overlook: cruel…
In these pages some of our regular reviewers provide a brief appreciation of their best most interesting books of the year, a selection of very varied reading which others will also enjoy.
Where I Find God: Personal Reflections from some of Ireland’s Finest Thinkers edited by Cora Guinnane & Joanne O’Brien, with a foreword by Mary McAleese (Columba Press, €24.99) Some 53 contributors, drawn from many fields of life share in a few brief but intense paragraphs their experiences of the mystical as they personally encounter it.…
Christmas time is one of the great books buying season of the year. For children and young adults especially the shops are filled with a bonanza of books, of all kinds for all kinds of taste. While it is said that girls take more easily to reading, they often prefer story books about girls,…
Peter Costello
Courtney McGrail