|
Read Ireland Book Reviews, January 2002
Singing Stone Whispering
Wind: Voices of Connemara by Raymonde Standun and Bill Long
When Raymonde Standun set about photographing
the local people of the South Connemara Gaeltacht, she quickly sensed
that here were stories to be told that lay far beyond the reach of her
camera. This unique place, these unique people, were for her a nucleus
of Irish culture: its language, music and dance. Yet these people, like
their ways, were old, and many were passing away. Collected here are fifty-one
interviews she conducted, stories at once singular and closely intertwined
with shared themes. Martin Flaherty on the Black and Tans; Julia Greaney
on Fair Day at Spiddal; Cait Nic an Iomaire on making her own wedding
dress; Festy Conlon on his father’s first fife. Set against Standun’s
stunning images are stories of poitin for two bob, the baker’s island-delivery
boat and the trials of line-fishing, alongside darker tales, still vibrant
in the collective memory, of landlord brutality, famine and emigration.
Edited by Bill Long, who also introduces the volume, here are the extraordinary
voices of the ordinary people of Connemara.
[ top ]
Stepping Stones:
The Arts in Ulster 1971-2001 edited by Mark Carruthers and Stephen Douds
The Troubles of the past three decades
saw Northern Ireland catapulted into the headlines across the world, yet
during the dark years of violence there was an impressive, but much less
reported, flourishing of creative energy. Now, at a time of unprecedented
social change and regeneration, a distinguished panel of writers has been
invited to comment on the artistic accomplishment of this extraordinary
period. This book records the highs and lows of the past thirty years
of northern theatre, poetry, fiction, visual arts and music. It celebrates
the best in achievement, but equally points out what was less successful
and suggests how the various arts disciplines might develop in the years
immediately ahead.
Memorable Quotations:
Irish Writers of the Past compiled and edited by Carol A. Dingle
This compilation of notable quotations
is a treasure of perceptive wisdom, beautiful thoughts, and sharp wit
gleaned from the words of Ireland’s finest writers, including: William
Allingham, Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, Elizabeth Bowen, Edmund Burke,
Maria Edgeworth, Oliver St. John Gogarty, Lady Gregory, James Joyce, Patrick
Kavanagh, C.S. Lewis, Robert Lover, George Moore, Thomas Moore, Arthur
Murphy, Sean O’Casey, Sean O’Faolain, George Bernard Shaw, Richard Brinsley
Sheridan, James Stephens, Laurence Sterne, Jonathan Swift, J.M. Synge,
Oscar Wilde and W. B. Yeats.
[ top ]
There is a Time
by Johnny Duhan
This book is the vivid inside story
of one man’s journey into song. It begins in Limerick with his mother’s
breakdown, an event that ended his childhood. A close uncle takes him
to the carnival and shows him that the law of gravity can be turned on
its head. Then his uncle is jailed for drunken disorder and petty theft,
and the world grows heavy again. Adolescent tension is channelled into
pop music and angry games with friends at Dino’s CafE9. At fourteen he
sets out for Dublin and a Rolling Stones concert, and winds up in a doss
house, but he is set on a wavering path to the bright lights. A band is
formed, a friend lost, a steady job thrown back in his father’s teeth.
On the road like a 1960s Don Quixote - ‘my lance a guitar, my horsepower
a transit van’ - he goes in search of fame and the girl. Still in his
teens, he becomes one of the original Irish pop stars, fronting a band
of innocents called Granny’s Intentions. But his journey turns out to
be a bug-infested, drug-ingested odyssey leading to betrayal and a cul-de-sac.
Later her reincarnates himself as a songsmith. Best known for his works
recorded by Christy Moore, Mary Black, Dolores Keane, Mary Coughlan and
the Irish Tenors, this book maps out the songwriter’s journey in life.
By turns sadly moving, richly humorous, and deeply reflective, this book
is an outstanding story of an exceptional songwriter.
[ top ]
Irish Classical
Recordings: A Discography of Irish Art Music by Axel Klein
Though the term ‘Irish Music’ typically
evokes images of fiddles and flut es, Ireland and its culture have also
given rise to a wealth of classical music, including compositions ranging
from string quartets to operas. In this important new work, the author
provides much more than a mere discography: he documents and promotes
a largely unknown aspect of Irish culture in a unique combination of discographical
and biographical information. Featuring ninety-three recorded Irish composers
and forty-three international composers influenced by Irish music, the
book offers the means for scholars and general readers alike to familiarize
themselves with a subject to which most of the world, until now, has not
been exposed. The book also provides full discographies of the better-known
emigrated Irish composers such as John Field and Charles V. Stanford as
well as of Anglo-Irish composers E.J. Moeran, Elizabeth Maconchy and Howard
Ferguson. As most of the music described is currently available on compact
disc, Klein’s compilation serves as an invaluable resource guide for both
academic and amateur enthusiasts.
[ top ]
Endgame in Ireland
by Eamonn Mallie and David McKittrick
Eamonn Mallie and David McKittrick
are two of the most respected writers on Irish affairs. They have been
granted unique access to the research undertaken for the television series,
‘Endgame in Ireland’. This book, as in the television series, tells more
vividly than ever before the inside story of the Irish peace process from
1981 through the words of the key people involved - many of whom have
never talked ‘on the record’. Those interviewed include both British and
Irish Prime ministers and their senior aides, including former cabinet
secretaries. They also include former leaders of both the IRA and the
loyalist terrorist groups. Many hours of exhaustive interviews have produced
more than a million words from key figures such as Bill Clinton, Tony
Blair, John Major, Nobel Peace Prizewinners John Hume and David Trimble,
Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams, and Johnny Adair. The award-winning authors
bring to bear their years of experience of reporting on the conflict to
relate this extraordinary account of secret meetings and clandestine negotiations,
as all the parties struggled to overcome centuries of distrust. This book
is not only a new portrayal of people and events, but it also makes an
important contribution to our understanding of Irish history.
[ top ]
1916: The Easter
Rising by Tim Pat Coogan
In this book, the author has written
an outstanding account of the Rising by introducing the major players,
themes and outcomes of a drama that would profoundly affect twentieth-century
Irish history. Well-chosen historic photographs and maps and documents
of Dublin enhance the day-to-day events of the Rising detailed in this
remarkable story during the bloody six days. The result is not only an
important history of a turning point in Ireland’s struggle for freedom
and independence, but also a testament to the men and women of courage
and conviction who were prepared to give their lives for what they believed
was right.
The Course of Irish
History by T.W. Moody and F.X. Martin
First published in 1967, this book
has been regularly updated and revised in response to the continued demand
for a balanced view of Ireland that is both popular and authoritative.
It is widely regarded as the best single-volume overview of Irish history.
A classic general history of Ireland, the book covers the economic, social
and political development of the island of Ireland from prehistoric times
to the present day. It provides a comprehensive overview of the major
events; personalities and movements in Ireland’s past that have shaped
the country, which exists today. In this edition, a new chapter covers
the momentous changes that occurred in Ireland between 1995 and 2001.
The Good Friday Agreement and devolution changed the face of Northern
Ireland, bringing a measure of peace and stability to a troubled land;
economic prosperity and an increasingly liberalised society transformed
the rest of the island. The book is illustrated throughout and includes
a detailed bibliography and chronology to aid further reading and research.
It is an essential book for anyone interested in the history of Ireland.
[ top ]
Making My Mark:
An Artist’s Early Life by James MacIntyre
There wasn’t much in the way of art
education for Shankhill Road youngsters when James MacIntyre was growing
up in Belfast. Times were hard, and the emphasis for boys was on getting
into a trade, not messing about with pencils and crayons. But James was
born with a great talent, a talent that, by sheer instinct and stubbornness,
he developed into a profession. He had his first show when he was only
eighteen and soon was a respected member of the group of artists, which
included Gerard Dillon, Dan O’Neill and Arthur Armstrong. This book is
MacIntyre’s own story of those early days - his own portrait of the artist
as a boy and young man. It presents a vivid picture of Belfast in the
1930s and 1940s, and an unforgettable account of his struggle for artistic
fulfillment against the odds.
Once in a Green
Summer by Thomas F. Walsh
Once in a green summer in the west
of Ireland there was a large family that grew up in a small house surrounded
by fields. There was fresh water in the well, food to be harvested from
the earth and not a plastic bag to be seen. There was love of the land
and fear of the Lord, and there was a priest in the family. There was
a father who cared for the straightness of his drills and the shape of
his corn stacks, whose sons all left and who saw the old world crumble
around him. There was a mother who left a well-to-do family to raise ten
children in a small cottage and who gave them love beyond measure. It
was a world where ghosts were real, where stories were as old as time,
where imagination was more powerful than fact. It was a world we once
lived in, now vanished forever. The author has put together a delightful
collection of memories of that vanished world, seen through the eyes of
a child who grew up in the shelter and certainty of its unchanging ways.
[ top ]
Emerald Germs
of Ireland by Patrick McCabe
In this book the reader meets Patrick
McNab, forty-five years old, would-be ‘Cleaner’ or ‘Regulator’, maybe
a serial killer - often to be found endlessly puffing smokes and propping
up the counter of Sullivan’s Select Bar, or sitting on his mother’s knee
both singing away together like some ridiculous two-headed human jukebox.
Pat now spends many of his waking hours sitting by the window of his old
dark house, watching videos and nibbling distractedly on pieces of toast,
reflects on those long-gone days with his Mammy, fending off the persistent
interferences of his small-town neighbors, the puritanical Mrs. Tubridy;
that irascible seller of turf the Turf Man; Sergeant ‘Kojak’ Foley; and
other unwanted snoops who will soon come to regret their inquisitive,
nose-poking ways.
[ top ]
Nice Fellow: A
Biography of Jack Lynch by T. Ryle Dwyer
Jack Lynch was born in August 1917
at St. Anne’s Shandon, Cork, at his family home, within yards of the famous
Shandon Bells. Known as Jack from his youth, he was a superb sportsman.
He was first elected to the Dail in 1948 and became parliamentary secretary
to the government in 1951. As Minister for Education in the late 1950s,
he was responsible for abolishing the ban on married women teachers. In
succeeding Sean Lemass as Taoiseach in 1966, he thwarted the ambitions
of George Colley, Charles Haughey, and Neil Blaney. This book portrayal
of Lynch as Taoiseach concentrates on his phenomenal electoral popularity;
his leadership in keeping the Republic out of the Northern conflict, his
vital role in bringing Ireland into the EEC, and his victory in the 1977
election, employing the tactics that opponents had used to defeat him
in 1973. Controversies surrounding the Arms Trial, difficult relations
with successive British governments and Lynch’s early retirement - which
resulted in Charles Haughey becoming Taoiseach - are examined in detail.
Since his death in 1999, popular opinion has been divided about whether
he was one of the country’s greatest leaders or a weak leader who was
manipulated by others, but there is no disputing the fact that he played
a central part in the shaping of modern Ireland.
[ top ]
Haughey’s Millions:
Charlie’s Money Trail by Colm Keena
In 1979, when Charles Haughey was
voted leader of Fianna Fail and Taoiseach, he gave a press conference.
At it, he was asked where his money came from. He said the question presumed
he was rich, which wasn’t the case; ask my bank manager, he replied. We
now know that it was a better joke than it seemed. At the time, he was
in debt to the Allied Irish Bank to the tune of 1.1 million Irish pounds.
Haughey dominated Irish political life from the 1960s to the 1990s. He
had always lived beyond his visible means. From 1969 on, he lived like
a prince in Kinsealy, at times on nothing more than a backbench TD’s salary.
The author of this book traces the origins of Haughey’s lifestyle back
to the 1950s and to his early life as a partner in Haughey Boland &
Co. He follows his early involvement with Des Traynor and his developing
relationships with property developers and other business figures. Through
all the ups and downs of Haughey’s amazing career, the financial background
was always a mess. He was constantly in debt. The bank leaned on him.
He leaned on his friends. Less than two weeks after becoming Taoiseach,
the property developer Patrick Gallagher agreed to a 300,000 Irish pounds
deal to help settle Haughey’s bank debts. While he was Taoiseach, the
money rolled in. Haughey was in effect a kept man. This book tells the
whole tangled story, from beginning to end.
[ top ]
Cracking Crime
by Niamh O’Connor and Jim Donovan
This book provides a unique, fascinating
and compelling insight into Ireland’s most notorious crimes and criminals.
Cases covered include: The dreadful murder of Mary Duffy; the assassination
of Lord Mountbatten; the Lisdoonvarna arsonist who left behind a glove
a flesh; James Lynagh - ritual killer; the fatal sex games of Adrian Bambrick;
and Garda murders - Noel and Marie Murray. It also looks at international
crimes such as the Lindbergh kidnapping, the killing spree of ‘Dr. Death’,
Harold Shipman, and how DNA finally solved the mystery of the missing
Nazi, Martin Bormann. It also includes a first-hand account of the duel
between forensics and Ireland’s most notorious criminal, Martin Cahill,
which Cahill tried to resolve by placing a bomb under Dr. Donovan’s car
- causing him horrendous injuries.
They Never Came
Home: The Stardust Story by Neil Fetherstonhaugh and Tony McCullagh
The fire that engulfed Dublin’s Stardust
nightclub in the early hours of St. Valentine’s Day, 1981, killed 48 young
people and injured and disfigured many more. Countless others continued
to suffer the emotional scars of loss and grief for the remainder of their
lives. The official inquiry into the disaster found that the Stardust’s
owners had acted with ‘reckless disregard’ for the safety of its patrons,
but no charges were ever brought against them. In fact, they went on to
win substantial damages for the loss of the nightclub complex. Victims
of the fire always claimed that the inquiry did not go far enough. Why,
despite numerous inspections of the Stardust by Dublin Corporation, were
the owners able to get away with repeated breaches of fire regulations
and building bye-laws? What caused the flames to spread across the vast
nightclub so rapidly? Why were so many patrons prevented from escaping
by locked or chained fire exits? Why were steel plates fixed over all
of the toilet windows? At the twenty-first anniversary of the Stardust
tragedy, the authors of this book investigate disturbing new evidence
that casts doubt on the original finding of ‘probable’ arson.
[ top ]
How It Was: A
Memoir of Samuel Beckett by Anne Atik
Anne Atik, the poet, and her husband,
the distinguished painter Avigdor Arikha, were part of Samuel Beckett’s
circle in Paris from the 1950s until Beckett’s death in 1989. Atik began
jotting down conversations with Beckett in 1970, and these document his
interests and passions - for chess, sport, music, and above all his deep
knowledge of literature in several languages. Atik’s recollections deal
in minute particulars - details of their dinners at home or nights out
in Montparnasse, the classical recordings to which Beckett preferred to
listen, the passages he would quote and re-quote from the poets, the paintings
he admired, the touchstones by which he measured himself and others. The
book is a revealing portrait of a man whose reticence and privacy were
paradoxically among his most famous traits and shows a side of Beckett
that is hardly known. The memoir is complemented by facsimiles of unpublished
Beckett letters, family photographs and some of Avigdor Arikha’s well-know
portrait drawings of the Irish writer.
[ top ]
The Irish Story:
Telling Tales and Making It Up In Ireland by R.F. Foster
Roy Foster’s books on Ireland have
always generated vigorous discussion, and in this book he breaks fresh
ground even by his own standards. Here he argues that, over the centuries,
Irish history itself has been turned into ‘a story’. He examines how and
why the key moments in Ireland’s past - the 1798 Rising, the Famine, the
Literary Revival, Easter 1916, the shifts and dislocations of the 1960s
- have been worked into narratives, drawing on Ireland’s powerful oral
culture, on elements of myth, folklore, ghost stories and romance. The
result of this constant reinterpretation is a ‘Story of Ireland’, complete,
as any story is, with plot, drama, suspense, revelations. And, of course,
its own fascinating cast of storytellers - from Sullivan and Standish
O’Grady to Butler and Lyons, from Yeats and Bowen to Frank McCourt and
Gerry Adams. Endlessly varied, surprising and funny, the book examines
the use of biography and memoir as national history, and explores through
linked essays the stories that people tell each other in Ireland and why
they tell them. Foster also shows the danger of myth-making: the idea
of history-as-entertainment. His book is a rallying cry for anyone anxious
that Ireland is becoming an historical theme park.
[ top ]
FishStoneWater:
Holy Wells of Ireland by Anna Rackard and Liam O’Callaghan
Holy wells are places of popular
religious devotion where people come to pray and leave simple offerings.
There are hundreds of holy wells all over Ireland, many of them still
in use. They vary greatly in appearance, some are very simple, decorated
only with rounded river pebbles, others are highly ornate and adorned
with holy statues, medals, pictures, rosary beads, flowers and candles.
The water at many of the wells is believed to have healing powers, and
a few are said to have power over the weather. This book captures the
unique spirit of these sites through stunning photography and illuminating
text, exploring the individuality of each well, their many forms and settings
and the assorted personal offerings that decorate them. The authors visited
the wells on special days of devotion to record the activities of local
people. They travelled the length and breadth of the island to locate
wells and to learn about the different attributes of each. The result
is a glimpse into a beautiful and strange landscape of faith, imbued with
intimate expressions of hope.
[ top ]
Reflections on
a Summer Sea by Trevor Norton
This book is a wonderful evocation
of a magical place caught in time - a funny and touching true story of
talented ecologists who, as a hobby, spent forty summers at their privately
owned field laboratory in a stunning corner of south-west Ireland. The
sea laps on every page, for events take place beside and beneath a stunning
marine lake in this beautiful country, where myths seep from the ground
like will o’ the wisps and eccentrics are always in season. Some of the
stars of the book are the marine creatures that occupy the lake: sea urchins
that won’t dine unless they wear a hat, otters that steel experiments,
and worms that will only mate by order of the moon. Only that of the ecologists
themselves matches their extraordinary behaviour. Their antics, and their
interactions with their Irish neighbours, are described with warmth and
wit. But for all its humour, this is also a moving account of two ecologists
who collaborated for forty years until their friendship came to a tragic
end. Mixed together are all the rich flavours of Ireland, the wonders
of natural history and the magic of being a marine biologist just for
the fun of it.
[ top ]
Into the Heart:
The Stories Behind Every U2 Song by Niall Stokes
This latest edition of the critically-acclaimed
book is brought fully up to date, including all the songs on ‘All That
You Can’t Leave Behind’, as well as U2’s contribution to the ‘Million
Dollar Hotel’ soundtrack album. This is the only book to explore the background
and inspiration behind every U2 song. It includes original and revealing
interviews with the band members. It also explores U2’s rich cultural
and social context. The author is a leading music journalist, and in this
book he traces U2’s meteoric rise from the early days to their continuing
status, as one of the world’s most influential rock bands.
My Eyes Only Look
Out: Experiences of Irish People of Mixed Race Parentage by Margaret McCarthy
From Premiership footballer Curtis
Fleming, to Lorna, who longed to live in America, this unique book introduces
the reader to a wide variety of people of mixed-race parentage. Some,
like Curtis Fleming, are well known for high-profile achievements; most
are private citizens in everyday occupations; all have their own experiences
of growing up in a mostly white society. These are their stories.
[ top ]
Blah, Blah Black
Sheep by Maggie Gibson
Journalist Drew Looney is in a rut,
waiting for her job to get better. Then, while covering a mundane deportation,
she accidentally stumbles on something far more sinister. Georgina Fitz-Simons
has just overcome a flourishing cocaine habit, but not soon enough to
stop her falling fowl of gangster Broylan Grillo. The two women find themselves
thrown together by circumstance - and then drawn together in adversity
as they become increasingly mired in a dark world of drugs, slave labour,
money and murder. An ageing Glam rocker, an inconvenient corpse and a
Serbia hit man with a face like a pineapple only add to their problems.
This is a funny, quirky escapade through the backstreets of Dublin.
Minding Children
by William Wall
Josephine Strane has never known
a real family when as a teenager she goes to work for Dr. and Mrs. Casey,
caring for Baby Jean. Soon she has made herself so indispensable that
when things go wrong she is able to move on with a glowing reference.
Then comes an American couple with their small son Robin, who charms everyone
with his laughing blue eyes and cheeky ways - the perfect family. What
they do not realise is that Josephine is anything by the perfect child-minder.
[ top ]
Retreat by Mary
Stanley
Retreat: a period of withdrawal from
the ordinary activities of daily life in order to meditate on the central
truths of faith, to seek a closer union with god but for the teenage borders
at St. Martin’s convent school in Dublin some rules are made to be broken
- as sixteen year old Mary Oliver discovers to her horror during a confessional.
With the help and support of her best friends, Mary survives - but only
just. Mary, Kitty, Bernadette, Bridie, and Treasa are five girls from
very different backgrounds, united by their need to break out from the
often cruel constraints on convent life - and by an experience too awful
to talk about until they are adults. Written with passion, insight and
humour, this novel is an unforgettable story about friendship and the
loss of innocence.
[ top ]
Abby O’Leary by
Charlotte Hardy
This novel is set in 1870s Ireland.
The country is gripped by the struggle between landlords and tenants.
To save her family from being evicted from their farm, naEFve seventeen-year-old
Abby O’Leary hopes to talk their Anglo-Irish landlord into a postponement
of the rent. Instead of their landlord, however, she meets his son - and
what does he care for the tenants’ problems with this beautiful girl before
him? Her reputation in shreds, Abby flees to London, where no one knows
her. There she meets a man who gives her a fresh start in life. Transformed
from farm girl to respected lady, Abby feels content for the first time
in a long while. Yet her troubles are only just beginning
Water Sign by
Kieron Connolly
Two years on and Paul Rooney is still
hurting from the loss of his beloved Jenny, going through the motions
at work and a home and, all the time, going slightly mad. Two years on
and Mary Conroy is still grieving for her beloved David, taking photographs
that no one wants to print and trailing around after her best friend,
the dynamic Deirdre, who’s determined to pull her out of her misery sometime
soon. She wouldn’t mind dreaming the same dream night after night if she
could just work out what it means. Both looking for answers, but finding
nothing but questions, Paul and Mary have a way to go before they realize
what every else has know for a long while: some things are just meant
to be. This is a hilarious black comedy about two Dubliners who are destined
to be together however much they might fight it.
[ top ]
Sing! By Michael
Curtin
An irrepressible friend, Jack Droney,
plagues toots Books, the alias of James Imbusch. Droney so wants the world
to sing that he has written the word upside-down on his naked backside
so that he can read it in the mirror when he finds himself with his head
between his legs. As he does, daily. However, when Droney begins to behave
even more oddly than usual, the slightly bedraggled members of a coffee
circle, including a reluctant Toots, determine to stage an old-fashioned
variety concert by way of distraction. To give Droney encouragement and
a platform to sing from. But beneath the caper and the comedy lies a seam
of tragedy. Toots, a reclusive bookseller, agrees to take part in the
concert in pursuit of his own private dream. This novel is an authentic
and touching blend of charm, wisdom and humanity.
Let’s Twist Again
by Leo Cullen
This book is a vivid and heart-wrenching
novel from one of Ireland’s most original - and funniest - writers. Young
Lally Connaughton has had a shock. His father has married Mam, a women
Lally can’t make head not tail of, and what’s more has moved himself and
his five children to live with Mam and her four children. Lally’s next
ten years, by turns side-splittingly funny and bitterly sad, are what
this novel is about. The exuberance and territorial warfare of the children
are brilliantly described, as is Lally’s long grief over the death of
his real mother. But at the core of the story is the developing relationship
between the boy and Mam, at first seen by him as a wicked stepmother.
Just as a more mature, understanding seems within reach, a new tragedy
looms
[ top ]
A Cut Above by
Colette Caddle
From the outside it looks like Toni
Jordan has it all. A successful career as a director of a cosmetic surgery
clinic, a husband who is an eminent surgeon, and a ready-made family in
her adorable stepdaughter, Chloe. But her world is falling apart. Theo
has become distant and cruel since he decided that Toni was not the wife
he wanted. And she is alarmed by decisions being made at the clinic that
may not be entirely ethical. Just as Tom decides to take action, Theo
disappears!
Dead Cat Bounce
by Damien Owens
Joe Flood is under no illusions -
he knows that things can and do go wrong. They’re generally small things
though, and they usually have the decency to go wrong one at a time. No
longer. Wisecracking but clueless, caring but confused, Joe is a man determined
to do the right thing - just as soon as he works out what the right thing
is. This is a fresh and funny debut novel from a truly remarkable new
voice in Irish fiction.
[ top ]
Paddy Indian by
Cauvery Madhavan
Padhman is a young Indian doctor
who arrives in Ireland from an extremely wealthy and westernised medical
family in Madras. When he joins the staff of a Dublin hospital as junior
houseman to do his Fellowship exam, he finds he is just another ‘foreign
doctor’. Slowly and unconsciously, Padhman recreates the kind of lifestyle
he is accustomed to in Madras while at the same time getting in deep waters
when he falls in love with the Professor’s daughter. This book is a sparkling
cross-cultural social comedy combined with a touching love story.
Jack Lynch: Hero
in Crisis by Bruce Arnold
Jack Lynch led Ireland through one
of the most significant crises in the nation’s history. No Taoiseach before
him had been forced to dismiss senior government colleagues on the suspicion
of a conspiracy to subvert the State. No one so transformed thinking in
the country about Northern Ireland and Great Britain, and about the use
of violence, as he did. Lynch laid the foundations for reconciliation
and progress in these islands. He governed firmly and fairly, but with
a will of steel. This book is his story.
[ top ]
Oughtobiography:
Leaves from the Diary of a Hyphenated Jew by David Marcus
For almost 50 years, David Marcus
has been a central figure in the world of Irish literature. He has influenced
virtually every modern Irish writer of note. In this memoir he tells of
his own life, of the forces that shaped him and of the people he encountered.
He writes vividly of his childhood in Cork city, and of being reared in
the Jewish ghetto tradition. His passion for literature led to him founding
‘Irish Writing’ soon after leaving university. This was to bring him into
contact with the Irish writers of the day - Frank O’Connor, Sean O’Faolain,
George Bernard Shaw, Sean O’Casey, Liam O’Flaherty, James Stephens and
Samuel Beckett. His account of travelling to Castletownsend to meet Edith
Somerville is a jewel of exquisitely observed recollection. After some
years working in London, he returned to Dublin to commence that part of
his career for which he will always be remembered - indeed revered - as
editor of New Irish Writing in The Irish Press and later as Literary Editor
of the same paper. Almost every renowned Irish writer was published there.
He was also to write three acclaimed novels of his own and a collection
of short stories. The achievement of David Marcus is matched only by his
self-effacement. Yet his memoirs are marked by countless revelations -
not least his role as the writer of a crucial speech for his friend from
student days - Jack Lynch.
[ top ]
Bono: The Biography
by Laura Jackson
Bono is one of rock music’s exceptional
figures. For more than two decades, he as been the front man for U2, arguably
the world’s leading rock band. With his powerful stage presence and distinctive
voice, Bono has captivated the imagination of thousands of loyal fans.
In this book, the author explores the ambition and commitment that drives
this remarkable man. She charts his life and the band’s development, giving
insights into his strong social conscience, passionate commitment to key
world issues and his enduring love affair with his wife, family and music.
This fascinating biography provides a detailed portrait of a man who is
much more than a rock star. It explores Bono’s many contradictions to
expose for the first time the vulnerability and strengths, the brilliance
and darkness of the man himself.
[ top ]
Dublin Through
Space and Time edited by Joseph Brady and Anngret Simms
This book is about the development
of Dublin from the earliest times. From both geographical and historical
perspectives, it tries to unravel and explain the many processes that
have interacted to produce the city as we know it today. It begins with
the early city, piecing together research from geography, archaeology
and history. As the architecture of the period shows so vividly, Dublin
flowered in the 18th century; the following sections look at how this
was achieved and by whom; much information is analyzed and mapped for
the first time and wealth of fascinating detail is revealed. The 19th
century was a tale of two cities: the better off moved to the suburbs
beyond the canals, leaving social problems behind in the inner city. It
was not all gloom. For the better off, Dublin was a bright and vibrant
city. The final two sections of the book offer a reconstruction of Dublin
at the beginning of the 20th century, looking at how it might have been
seen and experienced by the people of the day. The book is lavishly illustrated
with maps, diagrams and photographs.
[ top ]
Cleansing Rural
Dublin by Frank Cullen
The subtitle of this book is: Public
Health and Housing Initiatives in the South Dublin Poor Law Union, 1880-1920.
The ‘slum’ conditions in 19th century Dublin are a well-documented feature
of the city’s past. As a result, much is now known of the overcrowded
tenements and their poverty-stricken inhabitants. However, yet another
community existed in Dublin at this time, which also suffered the indignation
of poverty and disease, yet little is know of their plight. These were
Dublin’s rural poor, an agricultural community populating the town-lands
and villages of the wider county beyond the municipality. This book, while
addressing the vital issue of public health in the late 19th century and
early 20th century Dublin, instead chooses the territorial boundaries
of the South Dublin Poor Law Union as it geographical unit of study. Areas
covered in detail include the parishes of Rathfarnham, Clondalkin, Tallaght,
and Crumlin.
In Search of Ireland’s
Holy Wells by Elizabeth Healy
The veneration of water has been
an integral part of Irish culture since the ancient times. Today, at thousands
of holy wells scattered throughout the land, the tradition continues.
The author of this book has traveled the length and breadth of Ireland,
seeking out some of the more interesting wells, discovering their origins
and learning the lore and customs that surround them. Fully illustrated
in colour and black-and-white, the book not only outlines the cures sought
at the wells, but also examines the pre-Christian practices surrounding
them, and recalls the famous saints - including Brigid, Patrick, Columcille,
Kilian and Feichin - remembered at different locations throughout the
year.
[ top ]
Wild Irish Women:
Extraordinary Lives from History by Marian Broderick
This book brings together a fascinating
collection of unusual, unorthodox and unforgettable women. In every era
of Ireland’s history there have been those who have ignored society’s
conventions. In times when women were expected to marry and have children,
they traveled the world and sought out adventures; in times when women
were expected to be seen and not heard, they spoke out in loud voices
against oppression; in times when women were expected to have no interest
in politics, literature, art of the world outside the home, they used
every creative means available to give expressions to their thoughts,
ideas and beliefs. These 70-plus entertaining biographies reveal the truly
irrepressible spirit of Irish womanhood over the centuries.
Zero Point One
Six: Living in Extra Time by Mick Doyle
This autobiography vividly describes
the five tumultuous years in the life of Mick Doyle - veterinarian, former
Irish and Lions rugby player, coach, media correspondent, husband, father,
company chairman and general bon viveur. Only 0.16 per cent of people
who suffer a brain haemorrage recover, the remainder doesn’t survive the
trip to the hospital. On Sunday, 14 July 1996 Mick Doyle was stricken
with a massive brain haemorrage. He spent the next four weeks in a coma,
gradually regaining consciousness. With the help of the hospital staff,
his wife and four children, as well as close family friends, he began
the long road back to recovery. His inspiring story has much to say about
the importance of self-motivation and how to cope with the daily trials
one encounters on the road to recovery, trials for which few of us are
properly equipped.
[ top ]
Lions of Ireland
by David Walmsely
Look for a Lions legend and the chances
are you will find an Irishman. Ever since the first tour, the heroes of
Irish Rugby have been at the heart of the Lions’ finest hours - on and
off the pitch. This book tells the stories of the lives of the Irish world-class
players and characters who have contributed to Lions folklore - Willie
John McBride, Tony O’Reilly, Ronnie Dawson, Karl Mullen, Jack Kyle, Fergus
Slattery, Tom Kiernan, Mike Gibson, Syd Miller - and more recent players
like Keith Wood and Brian O’Driscoll. This book also includes a complete
reference section featuring every Irish player to have represented the
Lions in Tests since the first united tour of 1910. It recalls the powerful
personalities and relives the most dramatic deeds in the Lions’ long history
to the spectacle of the first Lions tour of the new millennium.
Ultimate Encyclopedia
of Gaelic Football and Hurling by Martin Brehony and Donal Keenan
Gaelic Football and Hurling are Ireland’s
most popular sports, generating an intense passion throughout the country
while holding worldwide appeal. This books takes the reader on a fascinating
journey - from the formative years of both games up to the present day
- bringing to life the many memorable moments which have highlighted these
two exciting sports. It contains profiles of all the top players, recounts
the great games, shows how the rules have changed over the centuries,
and provides a comprehensive guide to the facts associated with two of
Ireland’s most passionate pastimes.
[ top ]
|