Vatican Council Memories by Bishop Michael Smith (Veritas Publications, €19.99/£21.99) This is a fascinating inside account of the Second Vatican Council, arguably one of the most important events in the history of the Church in recent times. In 1959, soon after his election, Pope John XXIII announced his intention to convene an Ecumenical Council. In…
Pondering President Putin’s remarks on Russia’s role in history, I have come to think that some of Putin’s seemingly strange views might possibly be explained by the maps he used as a schoolboy. Like so many educated people around the world, his picture of the world has been seriously distorted by the types of school…
by Christopher Moriarty Nature praising God: Towards a theology of the natural world by Dermot A. Lane (Messenger Publications, €14.95/£12.99) The word ‘nature’ in the title of this remarkable book refers to the universe with one important exception. The exception is humanity and the two are generally posed as being in opposition to each other.…
Leinster House: A House with Three Lives An exhibition at the Architectural Archive 45 Merrion Square Until November 25; admission free, 9am-5pm. In recent months anyone going down Kildare Street in central Dublin and passing the noble facade of Leinster House, one of the city’s finest public buildings, will have been able to read the…
Northern Ireland 1921–2021: Centenary Historical Perspectives Edited by Caoimhe Nic Dháibhead, Marie Coleman and Paul Bew (Ulster Historical Foundation, €19.99/£16.95) Ireland was never rigorously partitioned like Germany, Cyprus or Korea. Churches, sporting and cultural organisations continued to operate island-wide. Since the peace process and the Single European Market, any hard physical border is gone. Ireland’s…
Where the Light Fell: A Memoir by Philip Yancey (Hodder and Stoughton, £12.50/£10.99) Considering how influential they are, the forms of faith in the United States are very important, even when not to the taste of Europeans. The tropes of the Episcopalians, the bare style of the Congregationalists, these would be familiar, with echoes of…
The Song of Brigid’s Cloak by Catherine Ann Cullen Illustrated by Katya Swan (Beehive, €14.99/£14.99) There has been great interest in St Brigid of late among historians and writers. Some of these have been in their way controversial; but there is nothing controversial about this little book. It is altogether delightful. Award-winning children’s poet Catherine…
Ireland’s Hidden Medicine: An exploration of Irish indigenous medicine from legend and myth to the present day by Rosarie Kingston (Aeon Books, €19.99/£16.99) This book will be compelling reading for those interested in folk medicine, also known as indigenous or traditional medicine. Such ideas are an important part of our heritage, for some of these ideas…
Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley (Hodder & Stoughton, €23.99/£25.00) Dr Lucy Worsley has become very much a fixture on our small screens, with a distinct penchant for dressing up in period costumes, which to some leaves an impression of history as mere fancy dress with a modern accent, rather than the…
Neil Jordan: Works for the Page, by Val Nolan Jr. (Cork University Press, €39.00 / £35.00) Neil Jordan’s career as an artist has been a curious one. He started, as so many writers do, by publishing a slim book with a short-lived and long vanished Irish publisher. But then a period of time working for…
Peter Costello