Read Ireland Book Reviews, November 2000

An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean, Antarctic Survivor by Michael Smith
Tom Crean ran away from home as a youth and become one of the most indestructible heroes in Antarctic exploration. He played a central role in the dramatic events on three out of four British expeditions in the Heroic Age of Polar exploration. He served Scott and Shackleton both bitter rival sand outlived them both. This book reveals how he volunteered for Polar exploration, was one of the last to see Scott alive before his ill-fated expedition reached the South Pole, and how he returned to bury him in the snow a month later. Tom Crean played a leading role in Shackleton’s legendary ‘Endurance’ expedition, sailing the small open James Caird across the violent Southern Ocean, and in the historic crossing of South George’s glaciers. The book is illustrated with photographs.

The Irish World: The History and Cultural Achievements of the Irish People edited by Brian de Breffny
First published in 1977, this classic book is still the only book to cover the whole of Irish culture with such erudition and in such glorious illustrations. Eleven leading scholars and writers trace the story of Ireland, its history, cultural mores, religion and politics through the ages, covering every peak and trough of its often turbulent past. With essays on prehistoric Ireland, the early Irish Church and its masterpieces of manuscript illuminations, the Viking invasions, the disturbed Middle Ages, the Protestant Ascendancy, the Celtic revival in art, poetry and drama, and the Irish in America. The book presents the whole of Ireland: the dark side as well as the light; the greatness as well as the suffering; the enduring victories as well as the humiliating defeats.

Faith or Fatherhood?: Bishop Dunboyne’s Dilemma by Con Costello
This book is the story of John Butler, Catholic Bishop of Cork, 1763-1787. In 1786, he inherited the title of Lord Dunboyne. There had been successive Lords of Dunboyne ever since the twelfth century. Determined that the title should not be lost, he resigned his bishopric, married and conformed to the Established Church. In so doing, he broke his vows and professed his unbelief in, among other things, the Real Presence. Trusting to his famous name and lineage, he expected the Pope of the day, Pius VI, to dispense him from his vow of celibacy and validate his marriage. His petition was turned down. He was accused of treachery, of being a modern Pharaoh whose heart had been hardened, a latter-day Henry VII destined surely for the hot place. And, sadly, an heir eluded him. This book recounts the tale made up in equal measure of scandal, fun, and profound poignancy.

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To Hell or Barbados: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland by Sean O’Callaghan
Between 1652 and 1659, over 50,000 Irish men, women and children were transported to Barbados and Virginia. Until now there has been no account of what became of them. The motivation for the initial transportation of the Irish was expressed by King James I of England: ‘Root out the Papists and fill it (Ireland) with Protestants.’ The author’s search began in the library of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society and its files on Irish slaves. The author for the first time documents in this book the history of these people, their transportation, the conditions in which they lived on the plantations as slaves or servants, and their rebellions in Barbados.

Cooper’s Ireland: Drawings and Notes from an Eighteenth-Century Gentleman by Peter Harbison
The ‘real’ job of Austin Cooper (1759-1830), as one of His Majesty’s civil servants working out of the Treasury in Dublin, might not have been the most romantic occupation. Yet it was this position and the travel it involved that enabled the young man to indulge the greatest passion of his life: sketching the ancient buildings and monuments of Ireland. From 1781 to 1793, this dedicated and prolific artist focuses on Ireland’s castle, abbeys, churches and round towers, both complete and ruined, and filled two albums with beautifully executed pen-and-ink drawings. Today these albums bequeath to us a detailed collection of topographical drawings of well-loved sites, such as Cashel and Monasterboice, but also many lesser-known monuments that he came across in his travels. The significance of this collection lies less in its artistic quality than in ins importance as a document of the times.

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A History of Gaelic Football by Jack Mahon
This book is the first comprehensive history of the Irish national game of Gaelic Football to be published in modern times. The game was codified in the 1880s on the foundation of the Gaelic League Association. Prior to that, a series of local rough-and-tumbles, usually known by the generic name of ‘caid’, had been played throughout Ireland. The new codified game, played with a round ball that could be handled and kicked, contains elements of soccer, rugby and Australian Rules football. At its best it provides a thrilling spectacle of high catching, long kicking and clever passing.

The Wartime Broadcasts of Francis Stuart 1942-1944 edited by Brendan Barrington
In January 1940, shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, the Irish novelist Francis Stuart moved from county Wicklow to Berlin where he accepted a university lecturing position. He remained in the Third Reich for the duration of the war, and between 1942 and 1944 he made over 100 broadcasts on German radio to Ireland. Herein are published the complete surviving transcripts of Stuart’s broadcasts. While Stuart often referred to himself as a ‘neutral’ uninterested in making propaganda, the talks were consistent with the broad thrust of German wartime propaganda to Ireland, and took an often fiercely anti-Allied line. Stuart spoke repeatedly of the necessity of a united Ireland, and suggested that a German victory could bring this about. He also spoke warmly of his admiration for the German people.

A View from Above: 200 Years of Aviation in Ireland by Donal MacCarron
In 1910 came the founding of the first Irish Aero Club for amateur aviators. The year 1913 brought the Royal Flying Corps to Ireland. Later, its successor the Royal Air Force arrived, as well as the US Navy flying boats, the former operating against the IRA and the latter hunting German submarines. With the coming of international and domestic peace, the commander of Ireland’s own Air Corps finally crossed the Atlantic from Europe to the United States, conquering the adverse winds that had claimed many lives. Aer Lingus, the national airline, was nurtured at Baldonnel, and flying boats were based at Foynes at the mouth of the River Shannon. This book describes how Ireland was involved in, and witnessed many of the great milestones of flight. It also tells the story of Aer Rianta and Ireland’s modern airports, and looks at the challenges and opportunities that face them in the future. It includes many rare and previously unpublished photographs.

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Cromwell: An Honourable Enemy by Tom Reilly
This is the untold story of the Cromwellian invasion of Ireland that challenges all conventional interpretations. With an impressive mastery of detail, the author marshals the facts and concludes that Cromwell was the first successful military conqueror of Ireland, and that his emphatic success was a foregone conclusion, so inadequate were the Royalist forces in Ireland. It is a fascinating, ground-breaking study that was universally lauded upon its publication in hardback in 1999.

Ireland from the Air by Federica De Luca and Antonio Attini
This wonderful book of photographs presents the Ireland of endless pastures and the geometry of drystone walls; the Ireland of cliffs plunging sheer into the blue of the ocean; the Ireland of islands and archipelagos still anchored to ancient traditions, immersed in a simplicity that time appears to have overlooked and that passes in from of the reader’s eyes in a glorious flight, a playful alteration of dappled sunlight and crepuscular mists.

Lions of Ireland by David Walmsley
Ever since their first tour, the heroes of Irish rugby have been at the heart of the Lion’s finest hourson and off the pitch. A look at the Lions’ record books finds Irishmen at the top to almost every list, from Willie John McBride and Tony O’Reilly to Ronnie Dawson. No nation has prov ided more leaders of the Lions. In this book these greats tell their stories of life on some of the longest and hardest roads in sport, and of the world-class players and characters who have contributed to Lions folklore: Karl Mullen, Jack Kyle, Fergus Slattery, Tom Kiernan, Keith Wood, Mike Gibson, Syd Millar. This book recalls the powerful personalities and relives the most dramatic deeds in the Lions’ long history from 1971’s ground-breaking triumph in New Zealand to success against the odds in South Africa in 1997.

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Ireland: A Short History by Joseph Coohill
From the Ice Age to the peace process, this authoritative guide balances historical narrative with insightful commentary, creating a uniquely accessible introduction to the history of Ireland and its people. Dividing the history of this complex land into six distinct periods, the author considers all the major events, their context, and their role in the making of the Ireland of today. Paying particular attention to the last 200 years, the author also examines the varying historical interpretations offered for key themes in Irish history, showing that how we view Ireland’s past will greatly affect its future. Offering new levels of insight into the complex identity of the Irish people, as well as into the way in which history is made, this penetrating and succinct book is essential reading for all those who wish to learn more about Ireland and its inhabitants.

Paul Henry by S.B. Kennedy
In his idyllic landscape paintings of the west of Ireland, Paul Henry (1876-1958) provides the quintessential view of the Irish scene. He stands alone as the most influential landscapist to work in Ireland in the twentieth century. In this book the author tells the story of the artist’s life and artistic achievements from his Protestant Belfast upbringing and his early artistic studies under Whistler in fin de siecle Paris, where he was strongly influenced by Post-Impressionism, to the holiday on Achill Island in his native Ireland that changed his life and after which, transfixed by the landscape, the people of the island and their way of life, Henry devoted his career to painting Irish life and landscape, introducing a degree of Realism that was new to Irish painting. Kennedy interweaves the life of Henry’s highly talented first wife Grace (1868-1953). A painter in her own right she emerges here from behind the shadow of her husband as a more substantial figure than ha s been previously recognised. The author brings to life the artistic worlds of Belfast, Paris, London and Dublin, all the while setting Henry’s life against the backdrop of one of the most revolutionary periods in recent Irish history. Generously illustrated in colour throughout, this book will stand as a highly important contribution to Irish art.

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A Buyer’s Guide to Irish Art edited by Roberta Reeners
This book is a definitive record of over 7,000 paintings by 700 Irish artists that have gone to auction in Ireland and the UK over the last five years. Listing every Irish artwork to go under the hammer at all the major auction houses, the book presents all the information that every art collector needs to knowincluding detailed price guides and sales histories for each piece. It also includes a series of unique editorial features which inform and captivate the established collector and new art investorfrom advice on how to buy art at auction to selecting the Top Twenty Rising Stars of Irish art to watch out for.

Sources in Irish Art: A Reader edited by Fintan Cullen
This book is a comprehensive collection of documentary sources relating to the study of Irish art from the eighteenth century to the present day. Public exhibition reviews, comments from private letters and journals as well as polemical and theoretical essays illustrate what was being said and thought about artistic development in Ireland over the past three centuries. The anthology clearly illustrates the practical and theoretical parallels with both literary and other artistic traditions, which the visual tradition in Ireland enjoys. It features the work of pivotal figures in the discussion of Irish art including Edmund Burke, James Barry and Thomas Davis as well as contemporary commentators such as Richard Kearney and Luke Gibbons.

Celtic Glass Painting by Judy Balchin
Taking her inspiration from Celtic art, the author of this book shows how to create a beautiful range of designs on glass. She includes knotwork and zoomorphic patters, spirals, figures and illuminated initials. These stunning designs are painted in rich, glorious colours, and some are gilded, whilst others are embellished. This clear, practical guide will delight all glass painters as well as anyone interested in Celtic Art.

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Ten Meetings of Minds by Liam O Murchu
This book is the author’s account of his encounters with ten people, each of whom made a substantial mark in Irish life. Some are of recent vintage, others go back to his childhood. As a five-year-old in 1934, he sat on his brother’s shoulders in a victory parade to welcome a schoolboy hurling hero called Jack Lynch back from a victorious Harty Cup final. The book is a set of pen portraits, not short biographies. The author concentrates on personal recollection, on those moments in the lives of his subjects that intersected with his own. He worked in the Department of Health when Noel Browne was the minister. As an Irish language broadcaster he came into contact with Sean O Riada and Cardinal Tomas O Fiach. He also recalls Siobhan McKenna, Sean MacEntee, Bishop Eamonn Casey, Cyril Cusack, Todd Andrews, and Charles Haughey. All are remembered shrewdly but generously. The author doesn’t sit in judgement but merely remembers with warmth and affection a series of remarka bl e pe ople whose paths he crossed.

The Catholics of Ulster: A History by Marianne Elliott
In this book, the author has succeeded in creating a coherent, credible and absorbing history of the Ulster Catholicsfrom their early medieval origins to the devolution of 1999. In the process many myths are destroyed, but a picture also emerges of a history which, while in many senses quite different from the received wisdom, is none the less, with the arrival of the English and Scots, an extremely brutal one. At a remarkable point in Ulster’s history, this book will be the focus of much debate.

Encyclopedia of Ireland: A-Z Guide to Its People, Places, History and Culture edited by Ciaran Brady
This completely new, illustrated Encyclopedia contains a wealth of information about Ireland, its history, institutions, culture, politics, and government. Over 1,200 A-Z cross-referenced entries, written by a panel of distinguished specialist contributors and advisers, provide in-depth coverage of: notable Irish men and women in all fields of activity; Ireland’s rich cultural heritage in literature, music, film, sport; Irish history, politics and government; towns and places in Ireland, including tourist attractions. The book also contains: Special signed feature articles on key Irish cultural and historical themes; a chronology of Irish history, offering a quick reference guide to Ireland’s complex and fascinating past; quotations on Ireland and the Irish. It contains numerous colour and black-and-white photographs and maps throughout. Accessible, informative, and easy to use, this encyclopedia is designed for anyone with an interest in Ireland and the Irish.

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Dublin: A Celebration from the 1st to the 21st Century by Pat Liddy
This book is a totally fresh and ambitious look at one of the world’s greatest capital cities from the earliest days through the present and into the future. The reader relives the unique and often troubled but never boring history of Dublin in its buildings, institutions and people, and admires the scenery and surprise of the stunningly beautiful hinterland of sea, mountains and outlying villages. Illustrated with over 1000 drawings, water-colours and full-colour photographs, many from the author’s own hand, in addition to old prints and maps.

Jacobite Ireland by J.G. Simms
This detailed study traces the course of a critical period of Irish history: from the accession of James II to the surrender of Limerick, which made William of Orange master of the whole country. It takes the story from the Catholic revival that followed the accession of James II to the treaty of Limerick, which led to a century of Protestant ascendancy and penal laws. This book is a major contribution to the study of 17th century Ireland, and is also extremely relevant to the understanding of the present divisions of Irish society.

Towards Ireland Free: The West Cork Brigade in the War of Independence 1917-21 by Liam Deasy
First published in 1973, this classic book is the story of one of the leaders of the Irish War of Independence. Liam Deasy was just twenty at the time of the 1916 Easter Rising. He enrolled in the Volunteers in Bandon in 1917 and by 1921 was in command of the West Cork Brigade. In this account of the War of Independence in west Cork, he vividly recreates the tense and hope-filled atmosphere of those years and provides a rich gallery of portraits of those alongside whom he fought. Best of all, he recounts in great detail famous episodes such as the successful attack on the British Naval Sloop in Bantry, Howes Strand and Ballycrovane Coastguard Stations, the ambushes at Kilmichael and Crossbarry and the raid on Fastnet Rock.

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Women of the House: Women’s Household Work in Ireland 1922-1961 by Caitriona Clear
The picture often painted of Irish women who were not in the paid workforce in the first four decades of Irish independence was one of narrow, option-less lives, ceaseless drudgery, and severe subordination. This book blends official records and personal testimonies of all kinds from these years, to show the reader that this was not necessarily so. Focusing on the kind of women who would not as a rule have employed household help, this book shows that the setting, nature and meaning of household work changed gradually from one decade to the next. Pregnancy, childbirth and infant care are looked at, as are food preparation, washing and other inescapable realities of most women. Running a house was a highly-skilled job, which often conferred status on those doing it. Magazines, advise books and women’s pages produced in Ireland in these years show the reader that this country by and large escaped the worst excesses of what Betty Friedan called ‘the feminist mystique’. Irish ‘w omen of the house’ whole-heartedly embraced modernity, but in a way that made sense to them and which preserved their authority and standing.

Laois Around the Famine Times intro. by John Goulding
This book is a description of the parishes, towns and villages of County Laois, as found in ‘A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland’ by Samuel Lewis (1837) with additional material on six Laois towns from Slater’s Directory (1846).

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