Books

Book Review: Southern Prods and the search for a place within their own state…

Gerald Dawe on May 10, 2019, 11:00 am | Readers 2364

Protestant and Irish: The Minority’s search for place in independent Ireland is a collection of exploratory essays edited by Ian d’Alton and Ida Milne. It is published by Cork University Press 2019 ISBN 978-1-78205-298-2. It is hard to credit today but when I left Belfast for Galway in 1974 there was a sense of entering the faraway and unknown. Belfast Protestants were pretty thin on the ground there so far as I could tell; indeed, the only other fellow Northerner …

‘The past is never dead. It’s not even past.’

Samuel Thompson on May 8, 2019, 4:00 pm | Readers 1202

The above quote by the American writer, William Faulkner, could have been crafted with Northern Ireland in mind. We need look no further than the murder of Lyra McKee a few weeks ago for evidence that Faulkner was right on the money. I thought my days of hearing news of the violent deaths of friends had long passed but seemingly not. I woke up to read of Lyra’s death in the news. Not only was her killing reckless and heartless, …

Reporting the Troubles: 2 Prime Ministers, 5 P O’Neills, the last death knock, and addressing legacy issues

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 22, 2019, 4:21 pm | Readers 1487

Brian Rowan and Deric Henderson speaking about Reporting the Troubles at a Creative Holywood conversation.

Recalling working on Prime Ministerial visits, receiving IRA briefings from five different P O’Neills, collating tens of thousands of pages of notes, deciding to no longer knock the doors of bereaved relatives, and thinking out loud about how to address legacy issues, when Brian Rowan and Deric Henderson sat down on Thursday evening to discuss their contributions to the book ‘Reporting the Troubles’, they had no idea of the tragic events that would happen just a few hours later in Creggan.

A legacy process should be about why the Troubles should never happen again

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 20, 2019, 12:27 pm | Readers 1171

On Thursday evening, hours before Lyra McKee was fatally shot in Creggan, Brian Rowan was speaking about Reporting the Troubles in Holywood. Throughout the event, he often pivoted away from pure reminiscence and returned to the subject of legacy, arguing for an inclusive and society-wide process that asked less about what had happened but instead focussed on why it happened and crucially why it should never happen again.

Book Review: Neither Here nor There – The Many Voices of Liminality, featuring Pádraig Ó Tuama

Gladys Ganiel on April 8, 2019, 11:04 am | Readers 689

Liminality. It’s not necessarily a word that pops up in everyday conversation – unless you are an anthropologist. A new book, Neither Here nor There – The Many Voices of Liminality (The Lutterworth Press, 2019), edited by Timothy Carson, offers an impressive range of accessible, eclectic, entertaining, and informative meditations on liminality. Among its 17 contributing authors is poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama, leader of the Corrymeela Community since 2014. Liminality is the disorientation or unsettling that takes place …

Previewing Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas & Politics (25-31 March)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 19, 2019, 8:42 pm | Readers 638

Imagine! Belfast, the festival of ideas and politics. Back from 25-31 March with 380 speakers at 156 events with 65 partners crammed in 50 venues over 7 days. Film, theatre, talks, panels, exhibitions, songs, a gag or two … and even a wood pellet competition.

Unfinished Business – shining a light into an enduring phenomenon that still stalks the peace process

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 1, 2019, 9:35 pm | Readers 1396

Watch back the launch of Dr Marisa McGlinchey’s new book – Unfinished Business: The Politics of ‘Dissident’ Irish Republicanism – which assesses the politics, ideology, tactics and motivations of the non-mainstream republican movement.

Don’t Mention the War: Legacies of the Troubles and Their Impact on Brexit

Vicky Cosstick on February 1, 2019, 8:30 pm | Readers 1297

Is this the calm at the centre of the hurricane? The eerie, robotic, delusional calm of Brexiters as they respond with condescension to the exasperated questioning of journalists that of course there are digital and technological ways of monitoring the border, and of course the EU needs the UK more than vice versa, and it is bound to cave in “when they see the whites of our eyes”; the “calm bewilderment” of the EU as they survey the unfolding horror in …

Country before Party? A UUP book launch discussion

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on January 26, 2019, 5:55 pm | Readers 2239

Image source: (c) Allan LEONARD @MrUlster

At the launch event for “The Ulster Unionist Party: Country before Party?” there was a roundtable discussion former-leader Mike Nesbitt, press officer Lauren Kerr and Alex Kane (its former director of communications). They discussed the party‘s performance, policies and appeal as well as its future role in Northern Ireland politics. Read about what was said and watch back the conversation.

Review of Guy Beiner’s “Forgetful Remembrance: Social Forgetting and Vernacular Historiography of a Rebellion in Ulster”

SeaanUiNeill on January 22, 2019, 4:41 pm | Readers 2462

“This is the past and it has to stay in the past. We don’t want to see any more of it.” Forgetful Remembrance: Social Forgetting and Vernacular Historiography of a Rebellion in Ulster, Guy Beiner, Oxford University Press, 2018. Over the weekend the PSNI were called to manage an incident with a car bomb within the Walls of Derry. The car was parked in Bishop’s Street, just by the courthouse and directly across the road from the Masonic Centre that …

How will we Remember Martin McGuinness?: Review of David Latimer’s ‘A Leap of Faith’

Gladys Ganiel on December 21, 2018, 3:58 pm | Readers 4078

A new book by Rev David Latimer, A Leap of Faith: How Martin McGuinness and I Worked Together for Peace, tells the story of the surprising but strong friendship between Latimer, the minister at First Derry Presbyterian Church, and the late Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin. It was a controversial friendship. There were those within Latimer’s own congregation, the wider Presbyterian Church, and unionism more generally who found it difficult to contemplate his close ties with a former IRA commander. …

Future Ireland / Healthcare in ‘A New Ireland’

Paul Gosling on November 24, 2018, 8:38 am | Readers 4137

In producing the report – now a book – ‘A New Ireland’ this year, I conducted lots of interviews asking people about the prospect of Irish reunification. The issue of healthcare in a united Ireland was consistently cited as a major concern. Northern perceptions of the southern system are very negative. Views within the Republic are not that positive either, for sound reasons. But it is only fair to point out that the NHS in Northern Ireland is in crisis. …

‘The Good Friday Agreement’ by Siobhán Fenton: a reminder of the sheer scale of the mountain still to be climbed

Alex Kane on September 3, 2018, 8:30 am | Readers 2699

This very readable, thoughtful book reminds us of the sheer scale of the mountain still to be climbed in Northern Ireland. More worryingly, though, it left me with the feeling (although that may be more to do with my professional cynicism than with Fenton’s own belief) that we haven’t a hope in hell of getting much beyond first base on the mountain.

Faith beyond the Shadow of the Abuse Crisis: Review of Aidan Donaldson’s The Beatitudes of Pope Francis

Gladys Ganiel on August 29, 2018, 7:06 pm | Readers 1157

There is no doubt that Pope Francis’ visit to Ireland has been overshadowed by the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. On Radio Ulster’s Talkback discussion on the eve of the visit, presenter William Crawley strained to steer the conversation in any direction other than abuse. Slugger’s own Brian Walker focused on abuse in his post-visit analysis. And in my own reflections, I argued that the visit ‘had become an unofficial referendum on the Papal handling of clerical sexual abuse …

Henry McDonald in conversation about his book – Martin McGuinness: A Life Remembered #feile18

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 21, 2018, 9:00 am | Readers 1025

Watch back journalist and author Henry McDonald in conversation about his photo essay book – Martin McGuinness: A Life Remembered – which was published by Blackstaff Press. The discussion examined the genesis of the book, the changing face of Martin McGuiness, and reflected on some key moments in the Troubles on which McDonald had reported.

Henry McDonald: Security forces oral history project axed in wake of PSNI raid on Boston archives

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 18, 2018, 5:58 pm | Readers 3066

Henry McDonald has revealed that a parallel academic project to capture to oral history of security personnel working during the Troubles collapsed when the PSNI won their case to get access to ‘Boston Tapes’ interviews with republican and loyalist paramilitaries.

Has ‘The Quiet Revolution of Pope Francis’ reached Ireland? Review of New Book by Gerry O’Hanlon

Gladys Ganiel on August 3, 2018, 12:20 pm | Readers 1969

The Catholic Church in Ireland looks like it’s in trouble. It’s still reeling from the clerical abuse scandals that have shaken its foundations over the better part of two decades, and it’s struggling to cope with the challenges of the island’s extraordinarily rapid secularization. A new book by Fr Gerry O’Hanlon, The Quiet Revolution of Pope Francis: A Synodal Catholic Church in Ireland? (Messenger Publications, 2018), argues that there is hope that the Catholic Church can reform itself. When Francis became pope …

Humanity in the midst of Brutality: Review of Martin Magill’s ‘The Poor Clares in Belfast, 1924-2012’

Gladys Ganiel on August 1, 2018, 11:37 am | Readers 1035

In 2012, the Poor Clares closed their monastery in North Belfast after 88 years in the city. As an enclosed order, it might have been expected that the nuns would have had little impact on the world outside their walls. Fr Martin Magill’s new book, The Poor Clares in Belfast, 1924-2012 (Shanway Press), tells a different story. The Poor Clares in Belfast explores how the nuns’ ministry of prayer, presence and listening endeared them to the local people. They were …

The Beano is 80

Andy Boal on July 30, 2018, 8:58 pm | Readers 1011

A little look at something different! I nearly started this article by suggesting that when most readers were young, the newsagents were full of comics, but then I remember that Slugger has readers who are too young to remember Buster ending with the last issue of 1999, leaving only the Beano, the Dandy, 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine on newsagent shelves. To my shock, my generation is the last one to remember the days when you could walk into …

Whatever Happened to the Good Friday Agreement? Review of Siobhán Fenton’s New Book

Gladys Ganiel on July 27, 2018, 2:22 pm | Readers 3080

Siobhán Fenton’s somewhat misleadingly-titled new book, The Good Friday Agreement makes for sobering reading. The aim of the book is to take stock of how far Northern Ireland has come since the 1998 Agreement, making it less about the Agreement itself than it is about the failure to implement it. Indeed, several times throughout, Fenton observes that it is not the Agreement that has failed. Rather it is Northern Ireland’s politicians who have ‘failed the Agreement.’ The Good Friday Agreement …