Brendan O’ReganIt’s all about The Narrative – you know, the version of a story carefully spun to suit somebody’s agenda, gleefully swallowed by the unthinking and enhanced by a trip to Outrage Factory. And so it was with the symphysiotomy controversy. For the last few years this child birth intervention was seen as ‘barbaric’, ‘torture’ and…
Category: Reviews
What we really gain from life
Peter CostelloIt is As it Is: a True Story of Hope Loss and Friendship by Malina Stahre-Godycka (Veritas, €14.99)
In the heart of rural Cork
“Ancient Sweet Donoughmore”: Life in an Irish rural parish to 1900 by Gerard O’Rourke (Redmond Grove Publications, €35.00 including p+p)
A book that spans the ages
A True Symbol of the City of Dublin – The Ha’penny Bridge Dublin by Michael English and others (Dublin City Council, €24.95pb / €34.95hb)
Cardinals argue that submitting ‘dubia’ is not such a bad thing
Courtney McGrailDespite well-observed concerns in recent times about the effects of social media bubbles, the internet remains an incredibly empowering phenomenon. In particular, it allows us access to documents hitherto reserved to the few: anyone nowadays can in moments call up the Treaty of Rome to establish that freedom of movement has been a principle of…
Emotional intensity reigns in The Missing
After the recent political earthquake and the ongoing aftershocks it’s a relief to get back to some fictional drama. The Missing (BBC One Wednesday nights) is the second season of this mystery series about people going missing in the most criminal of ways. The plot is complex and there’s lots of time shifting between…
A new look at Catholic Emancipation
The Catholic Church and the Campaign for Emancipation in Ireland and England by Ambrose Macaulay (Four Courts Press, €40.00)
The Brexit fallout – a battle won, a future lost?
All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain’s Political Class by Tim Shipman (William Collins, £25)
A man of ideas at Montrose
Creating Space: The Education of a Broadcaster by Andy O’Mahony (Liffey Press, €22.95)
The changing Christmas card and seasonal shifts
The World of Books