The upswing: How we came together a century ago and how we can do it again by Robert D. Putman with Shalyn Romney Garrett (The Swift Press, £25.00) Frank Litton This is a book for anyone who is interested in the history of the United States of America. Covering the last 125 years, from the ‘Gilded…
On the one-year anniversary of the Covid-19 outbreak in Ireland, it wasn’t surprising that the issue of the lockdown and religious practice featured prominently in the media last week, especially considering the Catholic Bishops’ statement on religious worship which put this back more prominently on the agenda. David Quinn discussed the matter on Today with…
Among artistic ventures falling victim to Covid-19 last year were Feis Ceoil and Music for Galway’s Cellissimo festival – a celebration of the cello in one form or another. Happy to relate both events have been reconstituted with Feis Ceoil, supported by the RDS and celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2021, already under way and…
This year marks the 1,500th anniversary of the birth of St Columcille according to tradition To commemorate this significant date in the history of Ireland and Scotland, a group of supporting institutions and authorities have come together to encourage a wide range of events of all kinds across Ulster and Alban, from Derry to Inverness, and to…
The Dead of the Irish Revolution by Eunan O’Halpin and Daithí Ó Corráin (Yale University Press, £50.00 /$65.00) Felix M. Larkin The stated objective of this book is to answer “an elementary question: how many people died as a result of Irish-related political violence between 1916 and 1921?” It does that, and much more. It puts…
Thomas MacGreevy and the Rise of the Irish Avant Garde by Francis Hutton-Williams (Cork University Press, €39.00) I have long thought highly of Thomas MacGreevy, who managed to be both a Catholic poet, a Parisian friend of James Joyce, an apostle of modernism in Ireland – indeed in Europe – as well as head of our…
Though people complain about the health regulations due to Covid-19, the response by many of our cultural institutions has been wonderful. The leading art galleries – for instance – all have active sites which have virtual exhibitions of all kinds. The National Library of Ireland (NLI) and many others too are exploiting their collections to…
The Luminaries did nothing for me. If you sewed my eyelids open and strapped me in front of the television I still wouldn’t have been able to watch it. But I enjoyed all six episodes of Behind Her Eyes, Eve Hewson’s latest outing on Netflix. As no doubt you know, she’s Bono’s daughter. It can…
I can understand people getting upset about ill-treatment of animals, and I doubt that anyone who is cruel to animals would be kind to the human beings in their lives. However, I do think the reaction to the picture of trainer Gordon Elliott sitting on a dead horse two years ago has been excessive. Sports Minister…
Miles to go before I sleep: Letters on hope, death and learning to live by Claire Gilbert (Hodder &Stoughton, £16.99) Out this month, Claire Gilbert’s unusual book which might have been a memoir of dying, becomes instead a celebration of living. It is a remarkable book, one which (as Rowan Williams is quoted as saying), is…
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello
Aubrey Malone