The Carlow Sugar Factory: The Extraordinary Story of an Irish Industrial Icon, by Christopher Power (Created by Alhaus for Carlow County Council Centenary Committee, supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media; available gratis from Carlow Public Library; email library@carlowcoco.ie) To mark the centenary of the creation of the sugar factory at…
Travellers in the Golden Realm: How Mughal India Connected England to the World, by Lubaaba Al-Azami (John Murray, £25.00 / €30.50 ) This is a most arresting book, though not always for the reasons the author may have hoped for. It was, it seems, originally to be published under a different title First Encounters:…
A Tract for Our Times: A Retrospective on Joe Lee’s Ireland 1919-1985, editor Miriam Nyhan Grey, with contribution by eight others. (Glucksman Ireland House, NYU / UCD Press, US$50.00 / €40.00) Historically minded readers should not be alarmed by the title to this festschrift: it seems to be intended as merely a fancy piece of styling,…
In 1915 the United States was passing through a period of recollection marking the 50th anniversary of the end of Civil War, also known, depending on one’s point of view as ‘The Great Rebellion’ or ‘The War Between the States’, which had ended with the surrender of the Confederate leader General Lee at Appomattox Court…
Irish Nurses in the NHS: An Oral History , by Louise Ryan, Gráinne McPolin and Neha Doshi (Four Courts Press, €17.95pb) Anthony Gaughan In the second half of the twentieth century, thousands of Irish girls migrated to the UK to train as nurses. They were subsequently employed in hospitals throughout England, Scotland and Wales. …
Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity, by Diarmaid MacCulloch (Allen Lane, £41.96 / €42.99 ) Robert Marshall Diarmaid MacCulloch is emeritus Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University. He has written extensively on the history of the Church and its Reformations. Lower than the Angels, running to…
Journey Without Maps, a travel book by Graham Greene (Vintage Classics. £14.99) At the end of January President Trump issued a proclamation on Black History Month promoting to all officials and members of the public that it might concern, naming as he did so a short roster of notable Black Americans. But it is…
Hope: the Autobiography by Pope Francis, with Carlo Musso, translated by Richard Owen (Penguin / Viking, £18.99 / €23.00) I want You to Be Happy, by Pope Francis (Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99 / €20.50 ) Pope Francis, it must be always kept in mind, even by his critics, is a unique figure. For the…
Gutenberg’s Cradle : Incunables at Marsh’s Library, Dublin, a catalogue compiled by Sara D’Amico (Marsh’s Library with the support of the Consortium European Research Libraries and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, €20.00; can be ordered directly from information@marshlibrary.ie) We are continually told that living as we do in an era…
All Time Belongs to Him: Seasons and Feasts of the Lord, by Hugh Gilbert OSB (Gracewing, £20.00 / £23.99) This book is quite a contrast to the spiritual adventures of Ben Harrison. The author Hugh Gilbert OSB has been a Benedictine monk of Pluscarden Abbey near Elgin, in Moray in northern Scotland. This is,…