Cork Harbour by Cal McCarthy (Merrion Press, €29.95) Cal McCarthy’s important book on Cork Harbour, the second largest natural harbour in the world, is beautifully shaped into three sections: Military Development, Commercial Development and Migration. The period covered is from 1700 to 1918. Hence there are no references to the role of Spike Island as…
I Want Everything by Marta Bellavista, ed. by Emanuele Polverelli (Itaca Edizioni, Castel Bolognese, Italy, €15.00; contact e-mail: info@itacalibri.it) This is a collection of writings by a truly remarkable person. Marta Bellavista was born in Cesena in Emilia-Romagna in Italy on October 19, 1983. After classical studies she attended the Catholic University in Milan, where…
Days of the Blackthorn: Faction Fighters of Kerry by Seán Moraghan (Mercier Press, €16.99) In the early part of the 19th Century especially, faction fighting was a feature of rural life throughout Munster. The Catholic clergy were unable to prevent it, despite their strenuous efforts, local magistrates turned a Nelson eye on it and some…
Ciphers of Transcendence: Essays in Philosophy of Religion in Honour of Patrick Masterson Fran O’Rourke (Irish Academic Press, €35) This is a well-deserved Festschrift. Patrick Masterson was a loyal and valued staff member of University College Dublin for 30 years. Beginning in 1963 he was an assistant lecturer in the philosophy department and in…
The Polish Society Yearbook 2018 Jaroslaw Plachecki (Polish Society, email: ips.dublin@gmail.com; post only, Polish House, 20 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, Ireland) The Irish Polish Society was established in Dublin in January 1979. The members were largely Poles who migrated from their country following World War II. The Society acquired its Centre – ‘Polish House’…
Dorothy Macardle by Leeann Lane (University College Dublin Press, €25.00) In this study the author sets out to explore Dorothy Macardle’s writings to reveal the development of her political thought and feminism. In so doing she has provided an excellent biography of her subject. Dorothy was born on March 7, 1889 in Dundalk, Co.…
Wild Stories from the Irish Uplands by John G. O’Dwyer (Currach Books, €14.99) The author is a veteran hiker with over thirty years experience of leading walking and mountaineering groups through the Irish countryside. In this collection of essays he visits a number of well-known uplands across the country and recalls their association with historical…
The Murder of Dr Muldoon by Ken Boyle & Tim Desmond (Mercier Press, €12.99) Dr Patrick Muldoon was a GP in Mohill, Co Leitrim. On March 18, 1923 he attended his weekly Sunday-night card game at the parochial house with his friends Canon Michael Masterson and Edward Geelan, clerk of the District Council. On his…
A History of the Irish Red Cross by Shane Lehane (Four Courts Press, €45.00) Following the estab-lishment of the Red Cross in Geneva in 1863, the British branch was founded in 1870 as the ‘British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War’ and reconstituted as the British Red Cross in…
Nights in Armour by Samuel Thompson (Mercier Press, €14.99) With the question of Ulster back in the fore of European politics, this new novel reminds us of just what the condition were in the grim past of that province that wise leaders in the Republic and the EU, Northern Ireland and Britain should seek to…