Pope John Paul II in Ireland: A Plea for Peace (12A) Did the 1979 visit of Pope John Paul II to our shores eventually impact on the Good Friday Agreement that saw “the force of argument”, as this fascinating documentary puts it, replacing “the argument of force”? Or as Seamus Heaney said, helped “hope and history rhyme”? It frames his visit in the context…
Soldiering Against Subversion: The Irish Defence Forces and internal security during the Troubles, 1969-1998 by Dan Harvey (Merrion Press, €19.99) Joe Carroll The role of the Defence Forces (the army, naval service, and air corps) in ensuring that the Troubles in Northern Ireland did not spill over into the Republic and undermine the stability of the…
A diocesan website from the other side of the world may not seem the most obvious place for Irish Catholics to find relevant and fruitful reading but angelusnews.com, the news website of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles can be just that. While local and American news are obviously major points of concentration for the news…
The Wife (15A) Glenn Close has been labouring away in the Hollywood vineyard for many moons now without too much to show for it. She’s been a bridesmaid at the annual Oscar ceremonies so often, ‘Close’ isn’t just her surname – it’s more like a career description. Some poor editorial decisions haven’t helped. In Fatal Attraction,…
I’ve reviewed some riveting TV dramas, but last week’s US Senate Committee hearings were up there with the best of them. I don’t know whether Judge Brett Kavanaugh or Dr Christine Blasey Ford is telling the truth, or whether one or both were deceptive, delusional or mistaken, but I’m taken aback to hear people pronouncing…
How to Defend the Faith Without Raising your Voice: Civil responses to Catholic hot-button issues by Michael Kelly and Austen Ivereigh (Columba Press, €14.99) A couple of generations ago, one could have safely assumed that most Irish people shared a set of common values. Even if one didn’t necessarily fully subscribe to the Catholic worldview, the culture was…
Curious Creatures: Frans Post & Brazil exhibition curated by Niamh MacNally, National Gallery of Ireland, continues to December 9, 2018 Curious Creatures: Frans Post & Brazil catalogue edited by Niamh MacNally (NGI, €9.95) Frans Post: Animals in Brazil by Alexander de Bruin (Riks Museum, Amsterdam, €19.95) When Europeans first intruded into South America their view…
Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward (Simon and Schuster, €19.99) Peter Hegarty Fear, the revealing account of Trump’s time in the White House to date, Woodward’s 19th book since All the President’s Men, describes an “emotionally overwrought, mercurial, and unpredictable leader” and his chaotic administration, in which Woodward has excellent contacts. His book rests firmly…
The Parnell Split in Westmeath: the bishop and the newspaper editor by Michael Nolan (Four Courts Press, €9.95) Felix M. Larkin John Patrick Hayden established the Westmeath Examiner in Mullingar in 1882, and was its editor and proprietor for a record 72 years – until his death in 1954, aged 91. His father, and later his brother, owned the Roscommon Messenger,…
It can be hard these days to find a TV drama that’s not marred by gratuitous crude language and worse, so I took notice of pre-publicity for a new show whose creator was reported as saying “the show I want to produce is playful, family friendly and a celebration of old-fashioned puzzle solving”. So said…
Aubrey Malone
Greg Daly
Brendan O’Regan
David Quinn
Peter Costello