The Art of Disagreeing Well: How Debate Teaches Us to Listen and Be Heard, by Bo Seo (William Collins, £14.99/€16.99) Bo Seo, the author of this very interesting book, is of Korean background but was raised in Australia. He made his name as a school and college debater, and went on to build on this…
The Most Estimable of Men: Judge John O’Hagan, Patriot, Poet, Scholar, Lawyer by Thomas J. Morrissey SJ (Messenger Publications, €19.95/£18.95) Having heard so much recently about patriots of later generations, it is very welcome to have a biography of a man of the Young Ireland movement – a book which will remind some and inform…
The Falling Dusk: The 2023 Lent Book, by Paul Dominiak (Bloomsbury, £12.99/€14.50) With Easter eggs, as noted above, already appearing in some shops (or so it is reported), it is certainly a good idea to give some prior thought to the season of Lent and the celebration of Easter. This book is not one of those…
This year the celebration of the Feast of the Nativity, according to the ancient Julian Calendar by the Egyptian Copts, took place last week with great ceremony. It brought into focus the cultural changes moving over contemporary Egypt where the Copts – who are miaphysites of ancient standing – now in accord with most other…
The passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI marks an important milestone in the history of the Catholic Church, in large part because of his role as a writer and scholar. All his life Joseph Ratzinger was an intellectual figure, a continuing student of theology and philosophy. He once said that “his only real friends were…
The release of files for the 1990s and earlier in January previewed Archives and the making of history This year’s release was a poor year for anything not related to Northern Ireland and Arms decommissioning. The flood of 6,000 odd files relating to Northern Ireland affairs seriously unbalances the release of files in other departmental…
The gothic cathedrals of Europe are recognised as one of the glories of European art. Every year hundreds of thousands, in some cases even millions, visit such places as Notre Dame de Paris, Amiens, and Chartres – indeed the great rose window of Chartres is one of the wonders of human ingenuity in praise of…
Some of our regular reviewers present their choice of a ‘Book of the Year for 2022’, a very varied and enticing selection covering a wide range of topics. Christopher Moriarty My choice for a book of the year falls upon Eoghan Daltun’s An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey Into the Magic of Rewilding (Hachette, Books Ireland,…
Selected by the book’s editor The Granite Coast: Dún Laoghaire, Sandycove and Dalkey by Peter Pearson (The O’Brien Press, €35.00) Explore Dún Laoghaire and its coastal surroundings as Peter Pearson reveals the story behind its transformation from rocky granite shoreline to grand Victorian ‘watering place’, to the bustling town it is now. With over 250…
World of Books This time of the year is the major occasion for people to buy books of all kinds, but especially for younger readers. There is fierce competition among the publishers, so it is easy to overlook interesting, even important books in the piled high melee. In these pages today we make some suggests for…
Peter Costello