Books – Page 11 – Slugger O'Toole

“You can see Newton’s mind at work…”

Pete Baker on December 12, 2011, 2:56 pm

| Readers 45

To add to the open access treasure trove at the Royal Society, Cambridge University Library is putting online some of its collection of books, maps, manuscripts and journals. We have called the first phase of our work on the Cambridge Digital Library the Foundations Project, which runs from mid-2010 to mid-2013 and has been made possible through a lead gift of £1.5m by Dr Leonard Polonsky. This generous support will enable the Library to develop its technical infrastructure and create significant …

Of the Old North and other Vanished Kingdoms..

Dewi on November 23, 2011, 7:09 pm

| Readers 217

I’m currently trawling through Norman Davies’s fabulous new tome – “Vanished Kingdoms” – Five stars in the (London) Telegraph’s review from Ben Wilson: All the nations that have ever lived have left their footsteps in the sand,” writes Norman Davies. “The traces fade with every tide, the echoes grow faint, the images are fractured, the human material is atomised and recycled. But if we know where to look, there is always a remnant, a remainder, an irreducible residue.” In this brilliant, …

“Good Friday. The death of Irish Republicanism” by Anthony McIntyre: a review

oneill on November 17, 2011, 2:23 pm

| Readers 445

This was a book that I first reviewed at the same time as “Unionism Decayed” back in 2008. Like Vance’s work, it is the author’s portrayal of a defeated political movement or ideal and as a Unionist it was instructional to read an interpretation of the immediate post-Agreement period from the other side of the fence. It was also interesting to read it again three years later to see how much and how little Irish Republicanism, as preached and practiced by …

“Unionism Decayed 1997-2007” by David Vance: book review

oneill on November 13, 2011, 2:57 pm

| Readers 872

I initially wrote this when the book was first published three years ago; whilst certain elements of it now sound dated, its basic premise that the period of 1997-2007 was a period of irreversible decay for Northern Irish Unionism can still be argued as a valid opinion. My own feeling is that it did indeed herald the end of the traditional monolithic form of Unionism but not necessarily even the beginning of the end of N.Ireland’s place within the Union. …

Graphic portrayals: Northern Ireland, graphic novels and the peace process

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on November 9, 2011, 7:40 am

| Readers 845

Dr Gordon Gillespie, a researcher at the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University Belfast, gave a presentation on “Graphic Portrayals: Northern Ireland, Graphic Novels and the Peace Process”, at the Linen Hall Library. Gordon started with a clarification that he was going to talk about graphic novels/comic books, not cartoons, and material that was produced for commercial purposes rather than for political or propaganda motives. He described how there is significant research on Troubles-related literature and movies, but that …

Legion of the Rearguard – Dissident Irish Republicanism by Martyn Frampton, Book Review

Gladys Ganiel on November 8, 2011, 1:02 pm

| Readers 290

Are you confused about ‘dissident’ Irish Republicanism? Anxious about its existence and its seemingly increasingly deadly capabilities? Martyn Frampton’s new book, Legion of the Rearguard: Dissident Irish Republicanism (Irish Academic Press, 2011) serves both as a primer on active dissident groups and a timely analysis of their historic significance and contemporary capabilities. This book clears up much of the confusion about contemporary groups, but offers little by way of consolation regarding their continued resiliency and willingness to resort to violent …

Kevin Myers’ ‘Watching the Door’: Book Review

John L. Murphy on November 3, 2011, 9:27 am

| Readers 575

This reads as if a mad picaresque tale. Myers as first a reporter for RTÉ and then as a freelance journalist with no real experience, finds himself wandering into savagery as he hastens north as the Troubles explode. A soldier dies next to him; he witnesses an IRA ambush; he sees children shot to death by snipers. The adjectives pile up: the conditions in 1970s Belfast lead to a life led as lies. ‘Insane, vile, ludicrous, preposterous’ characterise what happens …

Against Remembrance – Seminar & Book by David Rieff

Gladys Ganiel on October 25, 2011, 2:15 pm

| Readers 40

Is the best way to overcome the legacy of conflict simply to forget about it? Author and journalist David Rieff spoke on this subject last week in a seminar at the Institute for International Integration Studies (IIIS) at Trinity College Dublin. Rieff has recently written a book titled, Against Remembrance (published in Ireland by Liffey Press), which draws on his wide experience observing and reporting on conflict zones. The seminar was hosted by IIIS and the Irish School of Ecumenics …

The Irish political journalist’s problem with partial disclosure…

Mick Fealty on September 23, 2011, 12:05 pm

| Readers 267

The nod and wink politics of Ireland’s last two or three decades as practised par excellence by Bertie, Albert and Charlie are ultimately what has the Republic in the stew it’s in. Don’t get me wrong, the effective monitoring of those exercising of power does not demand full disclosure of everything all the time. But the absence of meaningful disclosure comes at a high price for any developed nation. A senior English commentator I know spoke to the Fianna Fail …

Children of the Revolution (Bill Rolston)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on September 18, 2011, 9:55 am

| Readers 320

Children of the Revolution by Bill Rolston

What was life like for children of political activists during the Troubles? A new book by Bill Rolston and published by Guildhall Press during the summer has collected together the stories of twenty Children of the Revolution whose parents’ activities – and in many cases, imprisonment – had a significant affect on childhoods and life choices. For me, this summer’s reading has been dominated by people telling their stories. Evangelical Journeys collated together ninety five interviews with evangelicals and ex-evangelicals …

The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday (Neil MacFarquhar)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on September 7, 2011, 9:15 am

| Readers 42

Bookcover of The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday by Neil MacFarquhar

With perhaps the longest title of any book I’ve read this year, The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday: Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East gives an insight into the lives of people living in Middle East through the eyes of journalist Neil MacFarquhar. MacFarquhar’s father was a chemical engineer who supervised an Esso refinery and a water desalination plant. His family lived on the Libyan coast in Marsa Brega alongside a community of other …

Do Words Matter?: Book Review of Political Discourse and Conflict Resolution – Debating Peace in Northern Ireland

Gladys Ganiel on August 31, 2011, 3:30 pm

| Readers 124

I share many of the concerns of Andy Pollak, whose recent post ‘My Response to the Slugger Begrudgers’ zeroed in on the ‘relentless flow of negativity’ of some Slugger commentators. Pollak’s post was largely concerned with the medium of the blog. Indeed, I think the anonymity of the online world encourages extreme discourse and allows people the perverse satisfaction of ‘speaking out’ without having to take responsibility for their views. Pollak ends his post with a quotation from John Bradley, …

The ANC, the IRA and the rise of influence of the left within Sinn Fein…

Mick Fealty on August 30, 2011, 9:48 am

| Readers 312

World by Storm has a nice piece up on the IRA’s role in helping MK, the armed wing of the ANC, in the 1980s. In particular he sees a strange alchemy at work there: …if one can think of a clearly legitimate contemporary struggle it was that against apartheid and it is to the credit of all involved in this latest revelation that Irish people and the IRA played a small part in its overthrow. Furthermore I tend to believe …

A poem for the day – Launching the Whaler Juan Peron

Martin Mooney on August 18, 2011, 10:00 am

| Readers 136

A Belfast epic, and one of my oldest poems, the opener of my first collection, Grub. The gist of the story was found in Moss & Hume’s Shipbuilders to the World: 125 Years of Harland and Wolff, Belfast, 1861-1986, which tells how Eva Peron was due to launch a huge whaling vessel in Belfast, built for and named after her husband. Unfortunately, her ill-health and political and economic turmoil in Argentina forced her to cancel, though the story goes that …

Spare us a phoney row about racism, we’ve got enough on

Brian Walker on August 13, 2011, 3:31 pm

| Readers 29

A silly media row about racism just had to figure in the riots’ post mortem. Was the Tudor history expert David Starkey racist on Newsnight when he said: The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic, gangster culture has become the fashion. And black and white, boy and girl, operate in this language together, this language which is wholly false, which is this Jamaican patois that’s been intruded in England, and this is why so many …

Learning from 1798?: Northern Ireland’s Upcoming Decade of Commemorations

Gladys Ganiel on August 9, 2011, 12:21 pm

| Readers 117

Last year, the Lilliput Press released a new extended edition of Tom Dunne’s Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize winning book, Rebellions: Memoir, Memory and 1798. First published in 2004, Dunne’s book provoked considerable controversy with its critique of the ‘commemorationist’ history that Dunne believed dominated the 1998 commemorations of the 1798 Rebellion. The book blasted the involvement of politicians and historians in the creation of what Dunne sees as a sanitized, counterfactual and politically correct portrayal of what 1798, especially in Co. …

Sunday Supplement

Martin Mooney on August 7, 2011, 10:00 am

| Readers 62

It being Sunday, we’ve all got time to consider and ponder things at greater length than during the working week, yes? If it’s good enough for the Sunday papers, it’s good enough for this guest blogger. So here’s the review section… Actually, it’s my introduction to a book published last year, Goin’ Down Slow: selected poems of Brendan Cleary. But the book has received no attention here in the north of Ireland and little enough in the poetry press in …

Turas, by Colin Neill – a story of strangers in a strange land

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 6, 2011, 10:10 am

| Readers 87

book cover of Turas, by Colin Neill

Colin Neill’s first novel Turas peeks into a world in which many Ulster Protestants feel uncomfortable. It’s 2020 and the Irish unification that unionists and loyalists confidently predicted would never happen has become a reality. President Adams is ensconced in Phoenix Park. The newsreader reported that … a short ceremony at Stormont had confirmed the passing of Northern Ireland, and had officially confirmed the birth of a now 32 county Republic of Ireland. The Union Jack had been lowered and …

The Earl Bishop

Pete Baker on June 23, 2011, 6:46 pm

| Readers 296

Interesting BBC article on an upcoming presentation and talk [Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, 17 August] by lecturer and broadcaster Stephen Price on the subject of his new book – The Earl Bishop. The 18th Century “Earl Bishop” was Frederick Augustus Hervey, fourth Earl of Bristol and Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry. Hervey was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his work on interpreting the Giants’ Causeway. And it was near there that he built the Downhill estate, …

A New Vision for the Catholic Church – Book Review

Gladys Ganiel on May 17, 2011, 1:48 pm

| Readers 83

The oft-quoted verse from the book of Proverbs, ‘where there is no vision, the people perish,’ (chapter 29, verse 18) opens a new book by Gerry O’Hanlon, A New Vision for the Catholic Church: A View from Ireland (Columba Press, 2011). That verse could be considered an apt summary of the current state of the Catholic Church in Ireland, which has been mired in scandal and seems to be suffering from a serious vision deficit. O’Hanlon, a staff member of …