Read Ireland Book Reviews, December 1998

Brace Yourself Bridge It! By Martin Turner
Subtitle: A Guide to Irish Political Relationships, 1996-1998. Throughout the two years of unprecedented political foreplay in Ireland coy flirtations, dangerous liaisons, come-ons and cold shoulders Martin Turner’s cartoons have lampooned each breathless, passionate step. This book looks at Irish and British relationships north and south, east and west, up and down and here and there. Mercilessly depicting the antics of both ingenues and disingenuous as they try to get it together the northern peace process, the Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats coalition and the Irish presidential campaign this new collection of Irish political cartoons features all the stars, from the newly Nobel-crowned Hume and Trimble, to Ahern and Adams and Mowlam, and with cameo performances from Blair, Clinton, Haughey and McAleese.

Death of a Chieftain by John Montague
Long renowned as one of Ireland’s greatest poets, John Montague, recently appointed Ireland Professor of Poetry, displays his second gift, as a writer of fine short stories, in this superb collection. These nine stories extend from Northern Ireland to Dublin, and even, in the daring title story, to Mexico. They focus on such compelling and diverse themes as the conspiracy of sadism between schoolmaster and schoolchildren; the fantasy world of a lonely farm boy; political scheming in a city office; the struggles of a gifted artist in bohemian Dublin. ‘The Cry’, an astonishingly prescient story, is one of the first to describe the beginnings of the Troubles, and ‘An Occasion of Sin,’ written in the voice of a young French woman confronting Irish attitudes towards sex, is a small masterpiece. But it is the title story which dazzles most of all. Anticipating magic realism, this tour de force describes the astonishing Bernard Corunna Coote and his Mexican campaign to establish that the Irish founded America! This collection is undoubtedly one of the most important collections of short stories to emerge from an Irish writer in this century. Originally published in 1964, it has been reprinted in a handsome edition to coincide with this most recent collection.

A Love Present and other Stories by John Montague
In this exciting new collection of short stories, the author explores some of the many forms, mysteries and stages of life and love through the seven ages of man. Carefully and lovingly, he unwraps his gift to the readers, gradually revealing a world of innocence and prejudice, of chastity and incest, of tenderness and desire. An emotionally rich volume, these stories provide a captivating and provocative read.

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The Victory of Sinn Fein by P.S. O’Hegarty
This fascinating eyewitness account of the events in Ireland from the Easter Rising in 1916 until 1923 is now back in print for the first time since it was originally published in 1924. It is written from a now almost forgotten viewpoint that of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. O’Hegarty’s heroes were Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins and he took the Pro-Treaty side in 1921, strongly opposing those who assumed a continuing mandate for force after ratification of the treaty. The book contains vivid character sketches of Griffith, Collins and de Valera and is a classic of Irish history.

Some Ethical Questions of Peace and War by Walter McDonald
This book was first published in 1919 shortly after the December 1918 General Election when Irish voters handed an electoral mandate to the Sinn Fein party. The author was horrified that much of the Catholic Church, as Professor Tom Garvin writes in his introduction ‘could be accused of following popular passion rather than trying to moderate and enlighten popular opinion, arguably the true function of a Catholic priest.’ McDonald’s view was that the British state had been regarded as legitimate by the Church and most of the people on the island for a long time. He was a loyal member of the Church but believed that its hostility to freedom of thought, free speech and intellectual enquiry would endanger its future. He also argues against those nationalists who had supported the prospect of a German victory in the First World War, which in his view would have brought about the ruin of Britain and Ireland. McDonald knew that his views were controversial but he was also aware when he wrote this book that he had a short time to live. This neglected but fascinating book provides an unusual insight into the thinking of the time.

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Into the Light: An Illustrated Guide to the Photographic Collections in the National Library of Ireland by Sarah Rouse
This guide describes, indexes and illustrates the nearly 90 collections of almost 300,000 photographs in the holdings of the National Library of Ireland’s Photographic Archive. It extends the information provided by previous National Library publications. Images described in this guide range from the mid-1840s to 1996. Most are topographical views, documentary images and portraits. Their value is informational, artifactual and aesthetic. Almost all depict Irish subjects or persons, and were taken by Irish photographers. As a group, the images provide a sweeping visual history of Ireland, and each collection tells its own story. Individually, the photographs give rich evidence of places, events, and people who have shaped the nation. For browsers, the guide will spark ideas; focuses researchers can find specific collections useful in their work.

Home to Roost by Liz Kavanagh
On the eve of the publication of her highly acclaimed first book, Country Living, the author found herself in a hospital bed, with a broken back. The months she spend recovering provided her with much time to reflect of past years and to bring together more of her good-humoured and down-to-earth accounts of the highs and lows of rural life. In this book the reader can journey through the year with the ever-popular Farmers’ Journal columnist as she gets back on her feet, welcomes home her emigrant son, celebrates New Year, enjoys her garden, and delights in her grandchildren. The reader can sample again the wry wit and home-spun wisdom that have made Liz a favourite throughout the country, as she ruminates on everything from the familiar art of crow-plucking to a childhood outing with the wren-boys. This book features a cast of characters familiar to Liz’s readers everywhere. And there’s a surprise visitor here too, dropping into add her tuppence ha’pence worth

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Ireland’s Master Storyteller: The Collected Stories of Eamon Kelly
In 1975, actor and seanchai (traditional storyteller) Eamon Kelly joined forces with Abbey director Michael Colgan to stage a one-man storytelling show, In My Father’s Time, at the Peacock Theatre in Dublin. Its success exceeded all expectations and every June for seven years a new storytelling show by Eamon Kelly opened at the same theatre. Kelly, who is as fine a writer as he is a seanchai, subsequently published six bestselling volumes of stories based on his shows. In this book his stories are collected for the first time: stories of the real Kerry and the magical past, the heartbreak of emigration, the stations, the priests, the courting and dancing, the war between the sexes. Here is an encapsulation of an era that has passed only very recently. Kelly mines a rich seam of humour and sadness out of the resilience of a people who were rich in hospitality and generosity, in imagination, culture and tradition.

Modern Irish Lives: Dictionary of 20th Century Biography edited by Louis McRedmond
This book provides short biographies of over 1400 Irish men and women who have been notable in their chosen fields. It includes the living and the dead alike: the only criterion for entry that a person’s main contribution has been made in the 20th century. It is an excellent reference book, completely up-to-date, edited with care and authority, an essential and reliable source of information on Irish persons and affairs in this century.

From Public Defiance to Guerrilla Warfare by Joost Augusteijn
Subtitled: The Experience of Ordinary Volunteers in the Irish War of Independence 1916-1921, this book for the first time compares the way in which ordinary people in various parts of the country become involved with the IRA and what they did once they had joined. It thus provides an insight into the reasons why some young men became increasingly willing to use violence, and offers a new explanation for the dominance of south-western units in the War of Independence, on the basis of their actual experiences. It also reappraises the impact of the less well-known units in the North, East and West which have so far been widely ignored. This book uses only original sources (many previously unused) including police reports, internal IRA communications and many reminiscences as well as the large number of interviews with rank-and-file Volunteers carried out by the author.

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The Mob: The History of Irish Gangsters in America by James Durney
the Irish criminal gangs of America first surfaced in New York in the 1830s and from then until the present they have been a major force in organised crime. Irish gangsters dominated organised crime long before the Mafia appeared in the New World. The slums of America’s big cities produced some of the most vicious hoodlums who have left their mark on that country’s criminal history. Legs Diamond, Mad Dog Call, Bugs Moran and Cockeye Dunn were all products of the American dream turned sour. This is their story, beginning with the birth of organised crime through the turbulent Civil War, Prohibition and the founding of the present day Syndicate. It is a fascinating and rich account with dozens of characters and stories, a must for all studies of an Irish-American culture that is fast disappearing.

Clann na Poblachta by Eithne MacDermott
Clann na Poblachta was a small, theoretically radical, republican party which challenged Fianna Fail for the office, power and ownership of the symbols of national identity in 1947 and 1948. Even though they did not succeed in their stated aim to supplant Fianna Fail as the dominant republican party their contribution to Irish political life was immense. Despite being seen as a one-election party, their very existence generated enormous excitement at a time when the political landscape seemed stupefyingly dull and impervious to change. Without the Clann, de Valera would not have lost office in 1948 and more importantly, a new form of government, coalition government, could not have been created. Their leader, Sean McBride and Dr. Noel Browne were to become two idealistic, innovatory and talented ministers in the first inter-party government. Ultimately, Clann na Poblachta would also cause the collapse of that government when the two ministers fell out with each other, indulging in a spectacular orgy of recrimination as they did so, and fatally injuring the party in the process.

Human Rights Have No Borders: Voice of Irish Poets edited by Kenneth Morgan and Almut Schlepper
This book is an anthology of contemporary Irish poetry compiled by Amnesty International in Ireland to mark the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It reflects the passionate commitment of Irish poets to human rights. With subjects as diverse and wide-ranging as children’s rights, the ill-treatment of prisoners of conscience, the murder of Spanish playwright Lorca, the suppression of Chinese students in Tiananmen Square, the war in the former Yugoslavia and the Irish peace process, these poems speak for those whose voices are unheard, celebrating the courage and resilience of the human spirit that can never be crushed. Among those who contributed poems are: Sara Berkeley, Eavan Boland, Seamus Deane, Katie Donovan, Derek Mahon, Paul Meehan, John Montague, Paul Muldoon, Richard Murphy, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill and Cathal O Searcaigh. Seamus Heaney’s ‘From the Republic of Conscience,’ written to mark the 25th anniversary of Amnesty International, is reproduced, as is Paul Durcan’s ‘Amnesty.’ Many of the poems are accompanied by the poet’s personal commentary, providing an additional insight into the work. It also contains an introductory note by Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and currently United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

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Birth of A Republic by Eoin Neeson
It is often forgotten that the painful emergence of a separate Irish nation-state in 1922 was as much the end of one facet of a single movement as the beginning of another. In this book, the author’s fresh narrative traces the course of formative republican ideals and events in Ireland, the people involved, their glories and tragedies, from 1798 to the foundation of the state. This illuminating appraisal, in the author’s modern, readable style, places the ‘republican thrust’ in context and includes new examination of the international climate of the times and the influence it had on events in Ireland. The dramatic events of the 19th century, the changes in national outlook following the Rising, the surge of republican Sinn Fein, and the strange death of the Irish Parliamentary Party, the progress of the War of Independence, the Treaty negotiations, the split and Civil War together with the curious role of the Irish Republican Brotherhood throughout are all meticulously traced in lively and elegant prose. The IRB provided Michael Collins with a loyal power-base through which he exercised enormous hidden influence. On the day of his death he was enroute to a meeting of IRB officers in Cork, including neutrals and opposition, with a view to achieving peace. What might the results of that meeting have been? It is not possible to understand contemporary Irish history and politics without a knowledge of these events. The detail and clarity of Eoin Neeson’s masterly appraisal make this book compelling and essential reading.

Mama Tina by Christina Noble
This is the inspiring sequel to her best-selling autobiography, Bridge Across My Sorrows. Christina Noble is a woman who knows the pain and loneliness of being left outside the door of having no door of one’s own to walk through, for she was once a street-child alone on the streets of Dublin. When she told the story of her early life in her autobiography she had no idea that it would prove a catalyst for so many others who had suffered childhood pain and rejection, of that it would inspire them to take the first courageous steps toward self-acceptance and their own self-healing. In 1989, driven by a dream and by the memory of her own past, she travelled 6000 miles to Vietnam, a country of great beauty where war has left a terrible legacy. Against extraordinary odds she opened a Childrens Foundation, a haven of food, beds, medical aid and schooling where the street children of Saigon can find safety and new beginnings under the protection of ‘Mama Tina.’ In this vivid and moving book, Christina Noble’s compelling story continues with the amazing tale of what she and her Foundation have achieved. She takes the reader from the streets of Saigon to the Children’s Prisons of Mongolia. A staunch campaigner for children’s rights, for her there are no frontiers, only a world filled with children reaching out. Finally she returns to Dublin, where the former street orphan is officially and proudly greeted by the President of Ireland herself. Christina Noble writes of her life as if every reader is her personal friend.

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Doing Irish Local History: Pursuit and Practice edited by Raymond Gillespie and Myrtle Hill
Local history is one of the fastest-growing interests in Ireland today. What is it and how do you set about doing it? Is it the collection of minutiae of one particular place or is it the chronicling of the part played by that town, village or townland in the evolution of a nation? In this book, eight distinguished practitioners write about the variety of ways in which local history might by done. Individual contributions show how to set about studying a town or townland and how to interpret local history within a wider context. Other essays highlight the role of the landscape, the built environment, folklore and literature in interpreting the past. Throughout, there is concrete help and advice for both beginners and experienced local historians as their subject is put under the microscope for the first time.

The Craic: A Journey Through Ireland by Mark McCrum
The world is increasingly besieged by images of Ireland and Irishness. Films, sitcoms, novels, plays, poetry, music, theme pubs, Murphy’s ads whatever may happen in the troublesome North, no one can deny the fact that Irish culture generally is more popular than ever. And yet, what do you really know of this island, the people and their way of life? What lies behind the all-too-cliched stock images? What actually awaits eager visitors, clutching their maps and postcards of a traffic jam of sheep? The author makes a journey around contemporary Ireland. Starting in Dublin, he roams south and west along the coast, before heading north over the border to find the now-derelict home of his great-grandfathers. Driving and walking, by train, bus and thumb, as he goes he meets everyone from Anglo-Irish gentry to new-age travellers; from hard-line IRA men to terrorists from the UFF; from Frank the goat-catcher to Dana the aspiring president. By the end he has learnt many things, one above all: you’ll never understand the Irish!

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