Picturing the Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation in the Arts over Two Millennia by Natasha O’Hear & Anthony O’Hear (Oxford University Press, £12.99) The other week a false alarm over an incoming ballistic missile (presumably from North Korea and armed with a nuclear warhead) scared the inhabitants of Hawaii witless. Fleeing the beach in minutes, they…
Fall Out: A Year of Political Mayhem by Tim Shipman (William Collins, £25) Peter Hegarty This year will test Theresa May. She must somehow get a good deal for Britain, the weaker negotiating partner, in talks with an increasingly assertive EU. In an impeccably-sourced account of her premiership Tim Shipman, the political editor of the Sunday…
Artists: Their Lives and Works foreword by Ross King (Dorling Kindersley £25.00) Michael Collins We admire the work of artists and are in awe of their magnificent creations. Their deftness with pencil, charcoal and paintbrush capture a moment and turn it into a timeless masterpiece. In this book the editors have produced an elegant volume which…
“In a remarkable move,” tweeted Chicago-based campus minister @richraho, “+Anthony Taylor boycotts local March for Life because keynote speaker, the State’s AG, is pro-death penalty.” A link to an article from arkansas-catholic.org detailed how Little Rock’s Bishop encouraged Catholics to join him in one of two pro-life Masses he would celebrate on Sunday January 21,…
Imagining Alternative Irelands in 1912: Cultural Discourse in the Periodical Press Brian Ward (Four Courts Press, €50) Felix M. Larkin Historians should always be conscious of the importance of contingency in shaping events. As the distinguished American historian David McCullough, biographer of John Adams and Harry Truman, says: “Nothing ever had to happen the way it happened.…
I spent more hours than was healthy watching Oireachtas TV coverage of the Dáil debates on the Report of the Committee on the Eighth Amendment. It was not encouraging. First off the overwhelming majority of contributors were strongly pro-choice and seemed completely oblivious to the existence of a baby in a pregnancy situation. Clare Daly TD…
Pat O’Kelly Among a number of anniversaries, this year commemorates two distinct and unrelated centenaries – Estonian Independence and the birth of the US composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein. Both events are being highlighted at the National Concert Hall next week through the return of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC) on January 31 and the…
The Living Gospel: Daily Devotions for Lent 2018 by Ann M. Garrido (Ave Maria Press / Alban Books, £2.99) The Feast of the Nativity just over, and the New Year hardly begun, then the mind of the Church turns towards Lent, which begins less than three weeks from now, Easter being this year on…
Alfie: The Life and Times of Alfie Byrne by Trevor White (Penguin Ireland, €20.00) Almost alone, Alfie Byrne survives in the larger public memory as the quintessential Lord Mayor of Dublin, almost a ‘Mr Dublin’. The chance play of politics meant that he filled the office for a decade, between the three man commission…
The Kilderry Files a novel by Maurice Manning (Currach Press, €14.99) This novel is set in the pre-and post-Vatican II period. An elderly Irish bishop dies and his successor discovers in his papers US stocks and shares worth millions of dollars. Wishing to dispose of these without questions being asked as to their source,…
Peter Costello
Greg Daly
Brendan O’Regan