Read Ireland Book Reviews, December 1997

While the Grass Grows: Memoirs of a Folklorist by Brid Mahon
Brid Mahon, author and folklorist worked for many years with the Irish Folklore Commission. In this book of entertaining memoirs she reviews the great variety of the Commission’s work, moving freely back and forth through the centuries as only a good folklorist can.
Among the many who found their way to the Commission’s offices on business and pleasure were Micheal Mac Liammoir, Burl Ives, Walt Disney, J.R.R. Tolkien, Frank O’Connor and Patrick Kavanagh. Brid Mahon writes of them all with wit and grace. This book is an informal cultural history of Ireland throught the ages with fascinating glimpses of her own life and times.

The Gold Sun of Irish Freedom: 1798 in Song and Story by Danny Doyle and Terence Folan
Written and compiled by renowned Irish ballad singer Danny Doyle and author/historian Terence Folan, this book combines a linking narrative with the history, songs and poetry of the rebellion of 1798. The narrative gives a straightforward, readable account of the background to 1798 and the important events and personalities of the rebellion itself, in Ulster and in Wexford, as well as the French landings in Connacht. Stirring traditiona l ballads such as ‘Who Fears to Speak of Ninety-Eight?’, ‘The Shan Bhan Bhocht’, ‘Boolavogue’, ‘The Wearing of the Green’, ‘Kelly the Boy from Killane’, and ‘Bodenstown Churchyard’ come complete with musical notation and simple guitar chords.

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The Bardic Source Book: Inspirational Legacy and Teachings of the Ancient Celts edited and selected by John Matthews with a foreword by Robin Williamson
In researching this unique collection of material on the Bards, noted Celtic and Arthurian writer John Matthews has made available to a modern readers hip a truly revealing and inspiring body of work. Not only does it contain a generous selection of texts by some of the greatest Bards such as Taliesin, Myrddin and Aneurin (with many poems in new translation) - it also includes many previously hidden and forgotten gems from the inevitable ‘anon’, as well as some of the best historical and latter-day commentarie s and writings in the Bardic tradition. As the only large-scale sourcebook on the Bardic mysteries, it is an important contribution to available literature on the subject, providing an accessible and readable collection of the Celtic literary heritage.

The Irish Navy: What a Life! By Jim Brady
As a fifteen-year-old boy, Jim Brady was determined to join the Irish Navy because he wanted to see America. Unfortunately by the end of his six-year service, he had only sailed as far as the Aran Islands. This is a book written with style and combed and it is bitingly funny when describing the numerous characters he was fortunate to encounter and never forget. The accuracy and descriptive observations makes it captivating reading. He describes in great detail the harrowing experience of continuously eating food laced with cockroaches, eating stinking meat because the fridge’s were useless, using toilets with no doors and facing each other, and no washing facilities. But despite the awful treatment he and his comrades received, his lasting love of the service is clearly evident on every page, and his vast collection of hilarious incidents and anecdotes contained in this book are vividly recounted and are highly entertaining.

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The Irish Navy: A Full Life by Jim Brady
In this delightful and eagerly awaited sequel is Jim Brady’s hilarious descriptions of life in chivvy street after his exemplary service in the Irish Navy. He writes vividly about his often-frustrating encounters wit h prospective employers both here and in England whom he could not convince that we actually do have a navy. He writes of his deeply embarrassing experience of losing his virginity t o a nymphomaniac swank in Dalkey, County Dublin. His colourful descriptions of life in the Liberties where he was born, and of its characters, including Bang-Bang, the most famous of them all, are a joy to read. He describes in great detail the humiliating experience of being forced to re-visit the Iveagh second-hand clothes market, to purchase two suits for four pounds, after all his belongings had been stolen by prostitutes near University College Cork while he was celebrating his discharge from the navy. His detailed portrait of his family’s life following his discharge in the early 1960s and his recall to active service makes a strong contribution to a very enjoyable book.

The Year of Liberty: The Great Rebellion of 1798 by Thomas Pakenham
Using contemporary accounts and a wide variety of illustrated sources, Thomas Pakenham provides a riveting account of the unfolding dramas of that fateful year. He sets the events in the context of war between Britain and France and the wave of revolutions that swept through Europe at that time : a successful revolution in Ireland, it was thought, and Britain would be the next to go. He shows that the rebellion was the result of Pitt’s failure to have any policy for Ireland; the misplaced optimism of Wolfe Tone and the ‘United Irishmen’; and the tragic illustions of the Irish peasantry, who were quite unprepared for war. The result of the rebellion was no less disastrous: Britain imposed a Union on terms that proved unacceptable to the majority of the Irish people, and there was a legacy of violence and hatred that has persisted to the present day. This book is the classic account of the Great Rebellion of 1798 , first published in 1969, and remains the only full-scale history of the tragic event. It has been reissued, with the addition of a chronology and a glossary of terms, to mark the 200th anniversary.

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Rebellion! Ireland in 1798 by Daniel J. Gahan
Daniel Gahan gives a vivid account of the events of 1798, examines the origins of the revolution, and explores the legacy which it left behind. The book contains a comprehensive listing of the 1798 bicentennial commemorative events as well as a chronology of the historic events of the rebellion. It is also the authorised book of the National 1798 Visitors Centre in County Wexford.

Mighty Wave: The 1798 Rebellion in Wexford edited by Daire Keogh and Nicholas Furlong
This collection of essays offers a new interpretation of the Rebellion in Wexford, where ordinary people, goaded to ferocity, ‘swept o’er the land like a mighty wave’. Essays: Reinterpretating the 1798 Rebellion in County Wexford by Kevin Whelan; Sectarianism in the Rebellion of 1798: The Eighteenth Century Context by Daire Keogh; The United Irishmen in Wexford by L.M. Cullen; Dublin in 1798: The Key to the Planned Insurrection by Thomas Graham; The Battle of Oulart Hill: Context and Strategy by Brian Cleary; The Military Planning of the 1798 Rebellion in Wexford by Daniel Gahan; Local or Cosmopolitan?: The Strategic Importance of Wexford in 1798 by Nicholas Furlong; Miles Byrne: United Irishman, Irish Exile and Beau Sabreur by Thomas Bartlett; 1798 Claimed for Catholics: Father Kavanagh, Fenians and the Cetenary Celebrations by Anna Kinsella.

The Decade of the United Irishmen: Contemporary Accounts, 1791-1801 edited by John Killen
Drawing together contemporary newspaper articles, letters and reports, John Killen brings alive the decade of the United Irishmen: the formation of the Society; the years of secret planning; the abortive 1798 rebellion and it s brutal suppression; and the far-reaching constitutional consequences. By relying on primary sources, and not the belated wisdom of hindsight, he draws the reader into the hope, drama and ultimate tragedy of a period that still has profound resonances in modern Ireland.

The Summer Soldiers: The 1798 Rebellion in Antrim and Down by A.T.Q. Stewart
This book is the story of the momentous seven days from 6 June, 1798, when in Antrim and Down a shaky coalition of idealistic Prebysterians and Catholics tried to wrest power from the Ascendancy, in the cause of the Rights of Man and the independence of Ireland. Drawing on the vividness of contemporary diaries, letters and reports to capture the diverse personalities of McCracken, Hope, Neilson, Russell, Dickson, Tone, Genera l Lake and General Nugent, the author presents a moving hour-by-hour accoun t of courage, confusion and betrayal in this important history of the Unite d Irishmen Rising in Northern Ireland.

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Eyewitness to 1798 edited by Terence Foley
This book is a collection of various eyewitness accounts of the rising, assembled for the first time. They give an unmatchable flavour of what i t was like to live through or participate in the events of 1798. It is the history of real people, written by them.

Citizen Lord: Edward Fitzgerald, 1763-1798 by Stella Tillyard
This book tells the story of the headstrong and passionate 18th century Irish revolutionary. Son of a duke, heir to estates and influence, Lord Edward died in a Dublin gaol, a rebel and a traitor. Born in 1763, he joined the British Army as a teenager, fought in the American War of Independence and was elected to the Irish Parliament in 1783. Returning to North America with the army in 1787, he spent time with the Iroquois and was adopted by them as an Indian chief. Back in Europe he became a disciple of the Republican Thomas Paine, visited revolutionary France and joined the Irish underground in the 1790s. With his wife as his helpmate, he plotted Irish independence from Britain. He was captured and died, raving and wounded, as the bloody rebellion of 1798 raged around him.
Largely based on personal letters and contemporary sources, this is a dazzling narrative, a moving biography, and an exemplary and unusual history.

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Wolfe Tone: Prophet of Irish Independence by Marianne Elliott
This book is the first major, definitive, scholarly, comprehensive biography and uses a wealth of new material to examine Wolfe Tone’s personal life and public actions. Winner of the Sunday Independent/Irish Life Award for Biography, the book was hailed as a ‘major contribution to Irish historiography one which will have important public influence in challenging many of the simplistic notions of Wolfe Tone,’ by the Irish Times.

Wolfe Tone by Henry Boylan
This classic book first appeared in 1981 and it remains the most accessible and authoritative short biography of this key figure in Irish history. T he author acknowledges Tone’s failures and shortcomings but concludes none t he less that ‘his gaiety, his self-mockery and his courage must endear him t o all who read his story.’

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Theobold Wolfe Tone: Life and Times by Thomas Bartlett
This short study, while recognising fully the importance of Tone’s legacy to later Irish history, seeks to show him as a decisive and charismatic individual who played an important role in the campaign for Catholic equality in Ireland in the early 1790s; and who later in that decade was a key player in the conspiracy to overthrown British rule in Ireland. The author’s central argument is that Tone’s ideas and actions can be assessed within their essential context the late 18th century Atlantic world.

Oscar Wilde by Frank Harris
This book documents Wilde’s triumphant rise and downfall as recounted by one of his closest friends. Literary editor and author Frank Harris played t he perfect Boswell to Wilde’s Johson in the London literary scene; he was also one of the few who remained loyal to Wilde after his conviction in 1895 and his release from jail two years later. Colourful, opinionated, sympathetic, and always frank, Harris’s provocative biography vividly re-creates the celebrated wit and controversationalist as no other has.

Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellman
The much-acclaimed biography by the renowned scholar and author of biographies of James Joyce and William Butler Yeats. This book exhibits “an exquisite critical sense, a wide and deep learning, and profound humanity a great subject and a great book,” according to Anthony Burgess.

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The Dramatic Life and Fascinating Times of Oscar Wilde by Martin Fido
Oscar Wilde was one of the most arresting personalities of his time, and his time was as fascinating as the man himself. The story of this brilliant Irishman is inseparable from the world of arts and high society in the 18 80s and 90s and this book deals with both. The world of Wilde was the world of Swinburne, Verlaine, Whistler, Aubrey Beardsley, Max Beerbohm, Toulouse-Lautrec, Sarah Bernhardt; it was also a world of enormous wealth and privilege that existed beside one of grinding poverty and squalid vic e. This book contains a wealth of illustrations which illuminate the many facets of the world of Oscar Wilde.

The Wilde Album by Merlin Holland
Oscar Wilde was one of the first and unquestionably one of the greatest self-publicists ever. This book publishes images from his childhood in Dublin, his early days at Oxford, his tour of America, his return to England many of the photographs previously unpublished from the family archive. There are also some rare snapshots of Oscar in his later years in Italy. The book is compiled by Wilde’s only grandson who has also written the text that accompanies this unprecedented collection.

Wilde Anthology selected by Merlin Holland
A pocket-sized anthology, which contains a wide range of his wit and wisdom drawn from his plays, stories poems, essays and letters. It also includes a chronological table of his life and works.

The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde
This book contains the complete plays, poems and stories, including The Picture of Dorian Gray and De Profundis. His other essays, short stories , children’s fairy tales and poems are all included in this comprehensive collection.

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Nothing Except My Genius: A Celebration of his Wit and Wisdom by Oscar Wilde
This new selection is drawn from Wilde’s stories, plays, lectures, review s and letters and provides an invaluable introduction and reference to Wild e the artist and the man. The full extent of his wit is on display in this book together with the profound, reflective and often melancholy side to his character.

Great Writers: Oscar Wilde: An Illustrated Anthology
An attractively produced and concise gift-book that presents a vivid selection of his writings accompanied by portraits and colour illustrations and biographical material.

The Picture of Dorian Gray
This is Wilde’s only novel is a story of moral corruption. The book attracted outraged reviews on its initial publication. Crafted in brilliant prose, the book is of lasting importance as a singular example o f Wilde’s brilliance applied to the novel. An evocative portrayal of London life and a powerful blast against the hypocrisies of Victorian polite society, it has become on of Wilde’s most celebrated works.

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Paddy’s Lament: Ireland 1846-1847, Prelude to Hatred by Thomas Gallagher
The hundreds of thousands of Irish men and women who survived the harrowing voyage to America during the calamitous years of the great famine brought with them a deep animosity towards England. Irish-American author Thomas Gallagher explores in details the roots of this hostility, which has persisted down to the present day. This book is a compelling and powerful account of the devastating consequences, which resulted when the potato crop failed in 1846 and 1847. Irish peasants were faced with starvation, eviction and disease, while, ironically, shiploads of grain and cattle continued to be exported to England. Making extensive use of contemporary records and eyewitness reports, the author goes on to recreate the experiences of a group of Irish who sought refuge in emigration. This book captures the anguished voice of the famine victim as well as shedding considerable light on current attitude and events.

The Great Hunger: Ireland 1845-1849 by Cecil Woodham-Smith
The Irish potato famine of the 1840s, perhaps the most appalling event of the Victorian era, killed over a million Irish people and drove as many more to emigrate to America. It may not have been the result of deliberate government policy, yet British ‘obtuseness, shortsightedness and ignorance’ - and stubborn commitment to laissez-faire ‘solutions’ - largely caused the disaster and prevented any serious efforts to relieve suffering. The continuing impact on Anglo-Irish relations was incalculable, the immediate human cost almost inconceivable. In this vivid and disturbing book, the author provides a definitive account.

The Great Irish Famine edited by Catahl Poirteir
This book contains the most wide-ranging series of essays every published on the Great Irish Famine and will prove of lasting interest to the general reader. Leading historians, economists, geographers - from Ireland, Britain and the United States - have assembled the most up-to-date research from a wide spectrum of disciplines, including medicine, folklore and literature, to give the fullest account yet of the background and consequences of the Famine. Contributors include Dr. Kevin Whelan, Professor Mary Daly, Professor James Donnelly and Professor Cormac O Grada.

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The Great Famine: Studies in Irish History, 1845-52 edited by Ruth Dudley-Edwards and T. Desmond Williams
With the landmark contribution, the history of the Irish Famine is take out of the hands of ‘the political commentator, the ballad singer, and the unknown maker of folk-tales,’ and placed on a scholarly footing. Thus, one of the great disasters of the 19th century, and a watershed of modern Irish history, receives its true, authoritative measure. First published in 1956 and long since out of print, this classic work of Irish history, originally intended to commemorate the Famine centenary, brought together several brilliant young Irish academics - Ruth Dudley Edwards, Oliver MacDonagh, R.B. McDowell, Roger McHugh, Theodore Moody, Kevin Nowlan, T.P. O’Neill and Desmond Williams - who were soon to become leaders in their field. Life in early 19th century Ireland, analysis of the political background, the organizations and distribution of relief, the causes and extent of emigration, the medical history of malnutrition, and an account of the Famine in oral tradition - all are pioneering, enduring contributions to the subject, illustrated by the Goyaesque iconography of steel engraving from The Illustrated London News. This new edition, which marks the sesquicentenary of the Famine, includes a historiographical introduction rehearsing the original book’s protracted genesis and impact, and a bibliography which notes the research and accomplishments of a more recent generation of scholars.

Irish Famine Facts by John Keating
In this book, the author sets out to provide a synopsis of the documented facts and scientific background to the Famine. The poverty, the hardship of subsistence living and the role of the potato in pre-Famine Ireland are described. So also is the coming of blight and the response of the Government and voluntary bodies to the Famine. The consequences of the disaster for the people are dealt with in detail. The book is fully illustrated.

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The Famine Ships: The Irish Exodus to America, 1846-51 by Edward Laxton
Between 1846 and 1851 more than a million Irish people, the famine emigrants, sailed to America. At the same time, the Irish potato famine claimed a million lives. This book tells the story of the courage and determination of those who crossed the Atlantic in leaky, overcrowded sailing ships and made new lives for themselves, among them William Ford, father of Henry Ford, and twenty-six year old Patrick Kennedy, great-grandfather of John F. Kennedy. Contains illustrations by Rodney Charman as well as two sections of colour plates.

A Death-Dealing Famine: The Great Hunger in Ireland by Christine Kinealy
The Irish Famine of 1845-52, although a pivotal event in the development of modern Ireland, was for decades marginalised or ignored by Irish historians. In examining the reasons for this silence, Famine expert Christine Kinealy demonstrates how many current attitudes and arguments about the Famine were evident during the event itself. The influences that shaped the responses to the Famine represent a core theme of this book. Dr. Kinealy focuses on the key factors which nurtured both policy formulations and the unfolding of events in mid-19th century Ireland. These include political ideologies, such as the influential doctrine of political economy; providentialist ideas which ordained that the potato blight was a ‘judgement of God’; and an opportunistic interpretation of the crisis that viewed the Famine and the consequent social dislocation as an opportunity to reconstruct Irish society. Kinealy also examines the roles of Irish landlords and merchants, political factions in Westminster and the pivotal role played by civil servants within the British government.

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The Irish Famine: An Illustrated History by Helen Litton
This book is an account of one of the most significant and tragic events in Irish history. The author deals with the emotive subject of the Great Famine clearly and succinctly, documenting the causes and their effects. With quotes from first-hand accounts, and relying on the most up-to-date studies, she describes the mixture of ignorance, confusion, inexperience and vested interests that lay behind the ‘good v. evil’ image of popular perception. Here are the people who tried to influence events - politicians like Peel, public servants like Trevelyan, Quaker relief workers, local communities, clergy and landlords, who wrestled with desperate need, and sometimes gave up in despair. Why did millions of starving people seem to accept their fate without rebelling? Why starvation on the very shores of seas and rivers plentifully stocked with fish?

The Big Wind by Beatrice Coogan
The Big Wind is a classic novel spanning an entire generation of Irish history, set in the tumultuous times of the 19th century. From the infamous Big Wind of 1839, the greatest storm ever recorded in Ireland, to the Great Famine and the land war between the starving Irish peasants and the Anglo-Saxon landlords, Beatrice Coogan brings alive the loves, cruelties and injustices of the times. An amazing feat of skilfully woven drama, romance and fact, The Big Wind has been justly compared to Gone With the Wind.

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