Anyone wishing to understand the nature of Canada as a nation could well begin that exploration by first making a visit to our own National Museum in Dublin. There in Kildare Street there is to be seen among the select moments and events in our long island history, a lavish display dealing with the Irish…
Irish Eccentrics,by Aubrey Malone(Penniless Press, £7.99 )Daft as Brush: Eccentricities of the famous and infamous,by Aubrey Malone(Penniless Press, £7.99) In the days of gloom and doom we all need something light-hearted to relieve the depressing ambience around us. In these two books, Aubrey Malone, the film critic of The Irish Catholic, provides two good doses of…
A Dictionary of Irish Saints, Second Edition, by Pádraig Ó Riain (Four Courts Press, €65.00 / £55.00) This is a new edition of an important, indeed for some purposes, essential book, which was warmly welcomed by The Irish Catholic when it was first published back in 2011. At that time I wrote that this was…
A Holy Mess: Making the Most of Our Misfortunes, by Donagh O’Shea (Dominican Publications, €14.99 / £12.50) I was only a few pages into this excellent book when I came upon a passage discussing the 1951 catechism, so well known to an older generation. From time to time efforts are made by well meaning but…
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…