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Dangerous Ambition: The Making of Éamon de Valera
In 1926 Éamon de Valera founded Fianna Fáil, the most powerful political party in Ireland for much of the past century.
His early life was a story of stark rearing and thwarted ambitions that led to him to gamble his wife and children on the outcome of a rebellion organised by others. He had little interest in politics before 1916.
Born in New York, he was raised as Eddie de Valera in rural Limerick–his mother absent, his father gone. A lonely child, he became ‘Éamon’ later.
Reared to be a labourer, Eddie got into Blackrock College and graduated from the Royal University of Ireland– rare breaks for a boy of his social class. Reading, rugby, hunting and prayer were his pastimes.
In 1924 de Valera left jail after serving just eleven months for his part in a vicious Civil War. His future looked bleak. But destiny found him a place in history. This is the story of what made him who he was by 1926.
Colum Kenny’s books include a biography of Arthur Griffith, and short studies of the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations of 1921 and the Irish Civil War. Professor Emeritus at Dublin City University, Kenny is a barrister and former broadcaster who contributes frequently to the national media.
978-1-916742-60-4
Format: Paperback
Price: €20.00
Page extent: 314pp
Pub date: October 2024
Southern Irish Protestants: Histories, Lives and Literature
“This richly textured, erudite and mischievously subversive book decisively establishes Ian d’Alton as the laureate of southern Irish Protestant history in the modern period ... an indispensable guide, and a delight to read.”
Roy Foster, Emeritus Professor of Irish History, University of Oxford
The ascendancy of southern Irish Protestants subsides like a slow puncture from the end of the eighteenth century. One disaster followed another – the 1798 rebellion, the Union, Catholic Emancipation, the disestablishment of their church, the loss of land and ‘big houses’, the slaughter of the Great War, the 1916 Rising and finally Irish independence. They had to come to terms with living in not just an Irish Catholic state but from 1949 in a republic shorn of its link to the British monarchy.
In these scintillating essays Ian d’Alton captures dashed hopes, anguish and suffering. Through a series of themes – iconic Protestant lives; how their history might be explained; identity explored through Anglo-Irish writers such as Elizabeth Bowen, Molly Keane and Iris Murdoch; Protestant reactions to war and rebellion; the trauma of Partition and regime change; and the place of religion in forming the Irish Protestant world-view – the author illuminates the Protestant community’s journey through perilous times.
And yet … for all the gloom and despondency, out of the ashes of ascendancy a new sense of connection and engagement emerged. Southern Protestants through the careful exercise of ‘soft power’, maintaining their social and economic privileges, moved – again slowly – from a sense of Britishness to one where they were a ‘confident minority’ in Ireland, proud – like Ian d’Alton – to be Protestant and Irish.
IAN d’ALTON is a historian of Irish Protestantism, the author of Protestant Society and Politics in Cork, 1812–1844 (Cork University Press, 1980) and the co-editor, with Ida Milne, of the best-selling volume of essays Protestant and Irish: the minority’s search for place in independent Ireland (Cork University Press, 2019). He was a contributor and editorial advisor to the Dictionary of Irish Biography (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at Trinity College, Dublin.
9781916742505
Format: Paperback
Price: €25.00
Page extent: 420pp
Pub date: September 2024
Moral Formations: Discipline and Religion in the Irish Army, 1922-32
Moral Formations: Discipline and Religion in the Irish Army, 1922–32 is a comprehensive exploration of the transformation of the Irish Army from the Civil War to the Eucharistic Congress. This vital work by Daniel Ayiotis explores the intricate relationship between discipline, religion and the Army, shedding light on the challenges faced and the values that were required of soldiers, from manliness and clean living to a chivalrous spirit and a degree of religious fervour.
This examination raises important questions about the role of religion in shaping the behaviour and actions of the Army and the influence of religious instruction on young soldiers. It also acknowledges the role of the Irish Army as a government institution and the values that were instilled during its early years of formation.
Daniel Ayiotis is the Director of the Military Archives and a commandant in the Irish Army, based at Cathal Brugha Barracks, Rathmines, Dublin. Since 1990 the Military Archives has been the statutory place of deposit for the records of the Irish Defence Forces, Department of Defence, and Army Pensions Board under the terms of the National Archives of Ireland Act, 1986. His latest publication was The Military Archives: A History (Eastwood Books, 2022)
978-1-91393-459-0
Format: Paperback
Price: €25.00
Page extent: 250pp
Pub date: July 2024
Gerald Boland: A Life
Gerald Boland (Gearóid Ó Beoláin) Irish militant revolutionary, politician and statesman, has until now ranked amongst the forgotten figures of modern Irish history. This book addresses this historical imbalance. Boland’s life story offers readers an insight into the birth and subsequent development of the modern Ireland. From a humble working-class family, steeped in the Irish Republican tradition, Boland played an active role in the Irish Revolution and subsequently was at the forefront of political life in the nascent years of the Irish Free State, first as a Sinn Féin elected representative and thereafter within Fianna Fáil. Boland’s story thus offers readers a personal insight into many of the major military and political events which helped shape modern Ireland over the duration of his lifetime (1885-1973).
Importantly, this biographical study provides readers with a critical examination regarding Gerald Boland’s military adventures, political manoeuvres and significantly his forgotten role as one of Ireland’s eminent state builders. The picture that is painted is of a patriotic adolescent emerging to become a strong-willed militant young man turned politician and later respected (and sometimes feared) government minister.
Stephen Kelly is Professor of Modern History and British Irish Relations at Liverpool Hope University.
His previous books include Margaret Thatcher, the Conservative Party and the Northern Ireland conflict (Bloomsbury, 2022), winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Titles Award.
978-1-916742-51-2
Format: Paperback
Price: €20.00
Page extent: 320pp
Pub date: March 2024
The Irish Construction Cycle, 1970-2023
Ireland has the most cyclical construction sector in Europe, equalled only by Spain. Except for an interlude of normality in the early 1990s, it has been dominated for half a century by booms, busts, slow and painful recoveries, housing shortages and surpluses, soaring and crashing prices. Unless this exceptional cyclicality is tackled, it may frustrate reforms and disrupt housing markets more or less indefinitely.
This work is a forensic and necessary examination of one of the most pressing issues facing Irish society today. It describes how policies on each stage of the development process have evolved, and suggests systematic changes to incentives affecting each of them, designed to minimise the negative impacts of cyclical swings.
Dr. Nicholas Mansergh has 35 years experience as a planner in Cork. He helped shape Cork’s strategic Land Use Transportation Study, and then led forward planning sections in the City in the 1980s and the County in the 1990s, development control in South Cork during the boom, and the Monard new town design team thereafter. He is a member of the Irish Planning Institute, has held two research fellowships, and continues to lecture in UCC.
ISBN:978-1-913934-31-6
Format: Paperback
Price: €20.00
Galway: City of Heritage
Galway: City of Heritage explores a rich body of historic buildings that date from the thirteenth century to the present day. The city of Galway is positioned on the estuary of the River Corrib where it enters Galway Bay on the west coast of Ireland. Despite Gaelic opposition, the Norman Richard de Burgo, chose to build his castle there around 1220. Shortly after, a Norman urban settlement became permanently established. This text explores inside the walls of the town which was laid out in an irregular street grid that included Market Street, Shop Street, Middle Street, St Augustine Street, Abbeygate Street and Cross Street, all lined with closely packed medieval houses, with the parish church of St Nicholas in a central position.
This highly illustrated work examines the heritage of Galway through the medieval, Victorian and Georgian periods. Pat Dargan celebrates the historic value of the city of Galway and brings to light the significance of the city’s heritage and local history.
Pat Dargan is an architect, historian, author and member of The Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland and the Royal Institute of British Architects. He has a special interest in the history and development of Irish cities and towns and he has published and lectured extensively in spatial planning and design. His previous works include: Kilkenny: City of Heritage (Wordwell), Exploring Georgian Dublin (The History Press), Exploring Georgian Limerick (The History Press) and Wexford: Town of Heritage (Wordwell).
ISBN:978-1-913934-58-3
Format: Paperback
Price: €16.99
Every Branch of the Healing Art: A History of the Royal College of Surgeons
In 1784, a small group of Irish surgeons broke ranks with the Guild of Barber-Surgeons to form the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).
Every Branch of the Healing Art tells the story of RCSI through its contributions to a near-quarter-millennium of surgical, medical and societal change. From nineteenth-century bodysnatchers to the 1916 Rising, through two pandemics and two world wars, with a vivid cast of characters, and reaching right to the present day, Every Branch of the Healing Art is a fast-moving, lavishly-illustrated narrative of a great Irish – and, now, global – institution.
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Ronan Kelly holds a BA and a PhD from Trinity College, Dublin, an MFA from University College Dublin, and a DipLIS from Aberystwyth University. A former Fulbright Fellow, his first book, Bard of Erin: the Life of Thomas Moore (2008) was an Irish Times and Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year. He works in RCSI Library’s Heritage Collections.
ISBN: 9781913934545
Format: Hardback
Price: €40.00
Milltown: A History
Recover the lost history of Milltown, County Dublin in this first stand-alone history of the old village of Milltown, County Dublin.
This book spans a period of 4,000 years and covers social, economic, political and military historical themes. Costello examines the impact of major historical events including the Great Famine, the Fenian Rising, World War 1 and the War of Independence and the impact they had on the village.
Drawing almost exclusively on primary sources, Milltown: A History recovers the lost history of a small village community and attempts to tell some of its story.
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David Costello has lived in Clonskeagh and Milltown for over fifty years. After working as a solicitor in private practice, Costello took time out in 2016 to research and write a history of Milltown. In 2019 he wrote a pamphlet entitled 'Milltown and its Parish Church 1819-2019' as part of the bicentenary celebrations for the catholic parish of Milltown.
ISBN: 9781913934415
Format: Hardback
Price: €50.00
Resilience: Lessons from Sir William Wilde on Life after Covid
Covid-19 changed how we see ourselves in the world. The pandemic brought loss and uncertainty, but also resilience and coping. People found ways to persevere, survive, and grow.
What does the single most traumatic event of our generation mean? Can we learn its lessons? Do societies ever learn lessons? There was collective amnesia about the 1918 Spanish flu. Will we forget Covid-19?
This book reflects on the pandemic in Ireland, what we might learn as a society, and what pandemics teach us about ourselves. The history of similar events is explored through the work of Sir William Wilde, Victorian doctor and father of playwright Oscar. Wilde knew the impact of infection through his clinical work, his studies of plagues in Irish history, and the tragic meningitis of his beloved daughter, Isola – the same condition from which Oscar later died.
Infection is eternal, but each pandemic is new to each generation. This book explores how Covid-19 showed that we are more fragile than we thought, but also stronger, smarter, wiser, and kinder.
Brendan Kelly is Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin, Consultant Psychiatrist at Tallaght University Hospital, and UCD Visiting Full Clinical Professor at University College Dublin. In addition to his medical degree, he holds masters degrees in epidemiology (MSc), healthcare management (MA), and Buddhist studies (MA), and doctorates in medicine (MD), history (PhD), governance (DGov), and law (PhD). He has authored and co-authored over 300 publications in peer-reviewed journals, over 600 other publications, and 16 books, including In Search of Madness: A Psychiatrist’s Travels Through the History of Mental Illness (2022). He admires cats enormously
ISBN: 9781913934569
Format: Paperback
Price: €16.99
The Building of Adare Manor: A Family Chronicle
The Building of Adare Manor tells the story of the trials and triumphs of house building at Adare Manor, County Limerick. Home of the Quin family (later Earls of Dunraven) since the mid-17th century, the building underwent a dramatic transformation.
James and George Richard Pain provided the initial drawings, but the 2nd Earl’s personal interest in design soon inspired him to become his own architect. He and his Welsh wife, Caroline Wyndham spent some twenty years travelling collecting ideas and inspiration.
The house was completed in the 1850s and 1860s by the 3rd Earl of Dunraven with the assistance of Philip Charles Hardwick. Portraits were lost at sea and panels warped by damp; a cholera epidemic swept away masons; and the Great Famine brought the family close to bankruptcy. Yet the building works continued to create of a house without parallel in Ireland.
Anna-Maria Hajba is an archivist responsible for collections and cataloguing at the Glucksman Library, University of Limerick. She is also an architectural historian with an abiding interest in patronage and country house building in the 19th century. Her previous published works include Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of North Cork (Wordwell Books) and short books on the history of Adare Manor, Adare village and the village of Doneraile.
ISBN: 9781913934309
Format: Hardback
Price: €40
Shifting Sentiment:Press Opinion in Ireland’s Revolutionary Decade 1914-23
Shifting Sentiment is a study of the evolving editorial commentary of Ireland’s nationalist provincial newspapers on the important political events in Ireland between the Home Rule crisis of 1914 and the Civil War of 1922-23. Its purpose is to determine the role of the press in reflecting and/or driving the rapid and radical changes in Irish nationalist public opinion within this period.
What emerges is a fascinating insight into how the public feeling can be both reflected and influenced by the press, and the power the press has in shaping events themselves.
Dermot Meleady is an author and historian, whose previous publications include John Redmond: The National Leader and Redmond: The Parnellite. He was born in Dublin in 1949 and studied Science at UCD and History at University of London.
ISBN: 9781913934347
Format: Paperback
Price: €25
The Military Archives: A History
In this work, Daniel Ayiotis skilfully explores how the Military Archives developed out of the vision almost a century ago of a handful of far-sighted military and civilians. That small visionary group saw the need to preserve Ireland’s military records. Their vision became today’s outward facing and internationally renowned Military Archives, the place of deposit for records relating to the Defence Forces and the Department of Defence.
In exploring its history, he has shown, to quote President Michael D. Higgins, ‘the fundamental importance of the Military Archives towards our understanding of the founding events of the state’ and indeed, of the century that has followed.
Commander Daniel Ayiotis is the Director of the Military Archives and a commandant in the Irish Army, based at Cathal Brugha Barracks, Rathmines, Dublin. Since 1990 the Military Archives has been the statutory place of deposit for the records of the Irish Defence Forces, Department of Defence, and Army Pensions Board under the terms of the National Archives of Ireland Act, 1986.
ISBN: 978-1-913934-33-0
Format: Hardback
Price: €25
Total State: Totalitarianism and how we can resist it
Authoritarian nationalism is on the rise in Europe and elsewhere. Freedom is endangered in Eastern Europe. In the Middle East, militant Islam threatens peace, stability and liberty. The US has recently faced an existential crisis, with the rise of populism and the unprecedented polarisation of left and right. Brexit has endangered the integrity of the EU, which has hitherto operated as a defender of peace and freedom. At the same time, threats have arisen in the West to the traditional value of free speech.
Drawing widely on relevant literature, including political theory from Plato to Hannah Arendt, this book highlights the above and related issues. In practical terms it suggests some ways in which the tendency to undermine freedom might be countered, through a political re-assertion of the value of liberty.
Dr Paul O’Brien is an Associate Fellow of the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, where he taught in the Faculties of Fine Art and Visual Culture. He has published in areas including aesthetics, film theory, philosophy, post-colonialism, new media art, culture and ecology, as well as alternative economic theory. He is a former spokesperson and policy convener for the Irish Green Party.
ISBN: 978-1-913934-21-7
Format: Paperback
Price: €16.99
A Bitter Winter: The Irish Civil War 1922-23
n this challenging but fair account of the Irish Civil War, Colum Kenny sets out relevant tragic events of 1922 to 1923 in a clear and succinct way. He highlights in graphic detail the main moments of a war between former friends. Arguing that it is not possible to suspend judgement about a dispute that threatened the democratic foundation of the Irish state, and that gave solace to its enemies, he presents a balanced analysis of what happened during those two turbulent years.
Referring to activists on both sides such as Michael Collins, Harry Boland, Mary McSwiney and Richard Mulcahy, the author explains that the Civil War was bubbling from early 1922. Reflecting on the lasting bitterness engendered by civil war, a bitterness that broke Arthur Griffith’s heart and contributed to his early death in 1922, Kenny relates the Civil War to current tensions surrounding the future of Northern Ireland.
Dr Colum Kenny BL is Professor Emeritus, Dublin City University, a journalist and an honorary bencher of King’s Inns. Awarded the Irish Legal History Society’s Gold Medal, his books include histories of King’s Inns, an account of Irish emigration to the USA, a biography of Arthur Griffith and most recently, Midnight in London (Eastwood Books).
ISBN: 978-1-913934-37-8
Format: Paperback
Price: €9.99
Ireland's Special Branch: The inside story of their battle with the IRA, 1922-1947
“A gang of police thugs.”
“Renegades and perverted types.”
"Fugh-faced bastards intent on nothing less than grievous bodily harm."
These were just some of the ways in which the men and women of the Garda Special Branch were described by their enemies within the anti-Treaty IRA. What follows in this work is the gripping narrative of the often brutal and violent struggle for supremacy between these two sides.
It explores the foundation and the inner workings of a squad of detectives, initially called the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), based in Oriel House, Dublin, in August 1922 and their transition into what became known as the Special Branch. It further details the history of the turbulent decades which followed, and the regular confrontations with the IRA in which many officers of Ireland would make the ultimate sacrifice.
Gerard Lovett is a retired member of An Garda Síochána and retired as a detective inspector in the Garda Special Branch in 2004. Since then, he was general secretary of the Garda Síochána Retired Members’ Association for seven years and was editor of their quarterly magazine Síocháin. He has written numerous articles on police history and has regularly given lectures to historical societies on both garda and RIC history, as well as famous historical murder cases.
ISBN:978-1-913934-29-3
Format: Paperback
Price: €20.00
Revolution at the Waldorf: America and the Irish War of Independence
America and the War of Independence.
New York, 1919. The lights of Broadway are back on. With victory in Europe, and influenza on the wane, a new generation was leading the metropolis of the world into the Jazz Age. America was still trying to define itself; the eighteenth amendment had been passed, the country was going dry; anarchist bombings, organised labour and bitter strikes fuelled a Red Scare; the Ku Klux Klan had become a political force and interracial violence was rife during the Red Summer.
The ‘President’ of the self-declared Irish Republic, Eamon de Valera, joined representatives from other new European nation states seeking recognition and funding. Back in the ‘home country’, Michael Collins was raising funds in open defiance of the Dublin Castle authorities. Without American recognition and funding the young Irish Government was sure to fail against the might of the British Empire.
This is their story.
Patrick O’Sullivan Greene, from Killarney, Co. Kerry, has been an activist investor for almost twenty years, was an award-winning equity analyst, and a qualified Chartered Accountant. More interested in business than pure finance, he expresses his entrepreneurial spirit through roles as a co-founder, director, mentor, and sometimes investor, in start-up companies. Patrick has worked in Dublin, London, New York and France. This is his second book, following on from his best-selling Crowdfunding the Revolution: The First Dáil Loan and the Battle for Irish Independence.
ISBN:978-1-913934-39-2
Format: Paperback
Price: €20.00
Kimmage: An Illustrated History
At the foundation of the State in 1922, Kimmage was just a crossroads (KCR), with farmland all around. Then thousands of houses were built by Dublin Corporation in the 1930s, which brought life to the area.
In earlier times, Kimmage had many limestone quarries, and the huge clay pits serving an important brick factory were later filled in to create Eamonn Ceannt Park and its cycling velodrome. The old Larkfield Flour Mill was used by Eamon Ceannt and Joseph Mary Plunkett to train Volunteers leading up to the 1916 Easter Rising and is now the site of Supervalu Shopping Centre on Sundrive Road.
Until recent years, Kimmage Manor was a major seminary for the Holy Ghost Fathers, and part of their extensive farm was later redeveloped for St Mary’s Rugby Football Club. There are also numerous soccer and GAA clubs throughout the locality. The Passionist Fathers of Mount Argus came to the area in the 1850s, led by Fr Charles, who became a saint in 2007.
Big employers in the 1950s included McEntaggart Motor Assembly, later taken over by British Leyland, and the Astor Cigarette Factory, both now the extensive site of Leo Pharma. Dublin Dairies was a major distributor of pasteurised bottled milk to households.
Nowadays, Kimmage is very settled and mature, but can boast of a colourful history.
ISBN:978-1-913934-32-3
Format: Paperback
Price: €16.99
You Will Dye at Midnight: Threatening Letters in Victorian Ireland
Victorian Ireland was global champion of threatening letters. This book reveals the murky world where tens of thousands of these letters and notices were nailed to barn doors or sent by penny post, intimidating, giving ‘fair warning’ and terrorising the recipients. These victims were sometimes landlords, land agents and land grabbers. Equally, they could be small farmers disputing land occupancy with neighbours.
This book examines the nature, extent and context of this unusual trend. It investigates who sent threatening letters and why they sent them. It also delves into who received such unwelcome correspondence and what action they took, giving new insights particularly into 19th-century rural Ireland.
Donal McCracken has been an academic for over 30 years. As a faculty dean for 15 years after 1994, he did much to advance the transformation and black advancement in the humanities at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, where he is now an emeritus professor. He has published extensively on Irish history (including on the southern African Irish diaspora), on media history and on botanical and environmental history
ISBN:978-1-913934-16-3
Format: Paperback
Price: €20.00
The Terror War: The Uncomfortable Realities of the War of Independence
During the Irish War of Independence the British and the Irish sides often reflected one another. Both the Irish and the British did well in some areas, and were deficient in others. But both sides used terror – murder – burnings – shearing women’s hair – to intimidate the Irish population. British Field Marshal Henry Wilson said of the Black and Tans: ‘It was the business of the government to govern. If these men ought to be murdered, then the government ought to murder them.’ Michael Collins could equally chillingly say: ‘Careful application of terrorism is also an excellent form of total communication’. The actions of the British and Irish frequently mirrored one another – an uncomfortable reality of the War of Independence. This book examines the trauma of the times – both the exceptional and the ordinary – through a diverse range of topics.
Joe Connell is an author, historian and regular contributor to Irish media, including Newstalk's Talking History and History Ireland magazine. This is his second book with Eastwood, following on from The Shadow War in 2019.
ISBN:978-1-913934-20-0
Format: Paperback
Price: €20.00
Midnight in London: The Anglo-Irish Treaty Crisis 1921
During the night of 5–6 December 1921, Irish delegates at Downing Street signed an agreement to end the War of Independence and create a new Irish state. This is the story of that fraught deal, and of the events and people behind it.
The story is told from original sources and eyewitness accounts, and brings to life the Treaty that sparked a civil war but made modern Ireland.
Irish negotiators were under great pressure in London. For nearly two months Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins and three others faced some of the most powerful men in the British Empire, including Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. Griffith and Collins saw the Treaty as a stepping-stone to greater freedom. Both were dead within a year.
Colum Kenny turns a spotlight on the key issues and problems they faced, examining why Éamon de Valera stayed away and what the delegates themselves achieved.
Ireland was already partitioned when the talking started. The choice was whether or not to fight on for some kind of republic – or accept Britain’s offer of limited independence. Why and how the deal was done is laid out fairly here, for any reader with an interest in Irish history.
Dr Colum Kenny BL is Professor Emeritus, Dublin City University, a journalist and an honorary bencher of King’s Inns. Awarded the Irish Legal History Society’s Gold Medal, his books include histories of King’s Inns, an account of Irish emigration to the USA, a biography of Arthur Griffith and most recently, Kenmare: History and Survival (Eastwood Books).
ISBN: 978-1-913934-19-4
Format: Paperback
Price: €9.99
Kenmare: History and Survival
This is the story of a remarkable man’s efforts to help starving people during the Irish Great Famine. It reveals their terrible experiences inside and outside one of the national ‘workhouses’ and throws new light on the relationship between class, religion and poverty in Ireland before independence. John O’Sullivan (1807-1874) was an independent-minded priest who clashed with bishops and landlords. He kept journals that have not been published. The author mines these and other sources, including eyewitness accounts, UK archives and Kerry’s workhouse minutes, for new insights into aspects of Irish society, including politics, proselytism and the status of women.
Dr Colum Kenny BL is Professor Emeritus, Dublin City University, a journalist and an honorary bencher of King’s Inns. Awarded the Irish Legal History Society’s Gold Medal, his books include histories of King’s Inns, an account of Irish emigration to the USA and, most recently, a biography of Arthur Griffith.
ISBN: 978-1-9139341-5-6
Format: Paperback
Price: €20.00
Faith and Fury: The Evangelical Campaign in Dingle and West Kerry 1825-45
The work of the Church of Ireland evangelicals in West Kerry between 1825 and 1845 was widely hailed as a model of a successful missionary campaign; it evoked, however, a passionate reaction from local Catholic priests. The missionaries wished to entice the Irish-speaking people of the Dingle peninsula away from what they saw as superstition and enthralment to Rome, while priests objected to what they saw as inducements offered to Catholics to convert. As new mission schools and churches were built, the war of words between clergymen of both persuasions was fomented by rival newspapers, reaching a climax in a notorious libel case of March 1845.
In this study, Bryan MacMahon gives a comprehensive overview of the origins and progress of the conversion campaign and the responses to it. The narrative brings the personalities involved into vivid focus and records the long-lost voices and values of those on both sides of the bitter divide.
Bryan MacMahon is an author and historian whose previous books include The Great Famine in Tralee and North Kerry (2017) and Ascend or Die: Richard Crosbie, Pioneer of Balloon Flight (2010). He has contributed to a range of historical journals, including History Ireland, Dublin Historical Record and The Irish Sword.
ISBN: 978-1-9139341-2-5
Format: Paperback
Price: €20.00
A Want of Inhabitants: The Famine in Bantry Untion
In the idyllic setting of Bantry Union, thousands of the poorest inhabitants starved to death in the decade of the 1840s. Little is known about the sequence of events of the famine in the Union and how this tragedy unfolded. Many people living in West Cork today think that the ravages were less severe in Bantry than in neighbouring Skibbereen Union. Not even the geographical extent of the Union is clearly known. We do know there was no happy ending. This vital work, combining archival research and social history, seeks to lay bare the factors that led inexorably to catastrophe.
Geraldine Powell is an author, psychiatrist, a graduate of the UCC Local History Master’s programme and a member of Bantry and Cork historical societies. Her work has been published in CHAS, the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society. ISBN: 978-1-8380416-4-9Format: Paperback
Price:€17.99
Fermanagh: From Plantation to Peace Process
This comprehensive history charts the major events that have shaped county Fermanagh from the days of the Ulster Plantation. Margaret Urwin looks particularly at the recent conflict in Fermanagh, detailing every death. Using official, declassified British and Irish government documents, the book examines how the Irish state co-operated with its British counterpart on border security. It also explores the validity, or otherwise, of claims of ‘ethnic cleansing'.
Margaret Urwin has worked with Justice for the Forgotten/Pat Finucane Centre for many years, advocating for families of victims of the Northern conflict. She is a graduate of The Open University and holds an M.A. in Local History from NUI, Maynooth. She is the author of several works, including A State in Denial: British Collaboration with Loyalist Paramilitaries. ISBN: 978-1-8380416-3-2Format: Paperback
Price:€20.00
A Difficult Birth: The Early Years of Northern Ireland, 1920–1925
On the eve of the centenary of the foundation of the Northern Ireland state in 2021, this significant work examines the major political developments of this short and momentous period in Irish history. By necessity, it also explores the multi-faceted nature of the communal violence that blighted the North in its early years. The author concludes by investigating the 1925 findings of the Boundary Commission, as well as assessing the legacy of what was to become Northern Ireland.
Dr Alan Parkinson is a university history lecturer and the author of numerous publications, especially in the areas of modern Irish political history and the social history of modern London. His publications include: Belfast's Unholy War Friends in High Places: Ulster's Resistance to Irish Home Rule, 1912–14 Election Fever: Ground-breaking Elections in Northern Ireland. ISBN: 978-1-8380416-2-52Format: Paperback
Price:€25.00
Clare and the War of Independence
The IRA Volunteers of County Clare were pioneers of the tactics of guerrilla warfare. In 1919, with the moral support of Dr Michael Fogarty, Catholic Bishop of Killaloe, they took on the vastly superior forces of the Crown. Through their successful ‘hit-and-run’ tactics, the IRA undermined and paralysed British rule in the county until the truce finally came on 11 July 1921. In this comprehensively researched and scholarly work, the author tells a story that highlights the particular role of the men and women of Clare in the national conflict, which offers unique insights into the major events, successful ambushes, Black and Tan reprisals and controversial IRA executions during the national struggle for independence.
DR JOE POWER is an award-winning historian of County Clare. His publications include: A History of Clare Abbey and Killone; The GAA in Clare Castle 1887–1987, for which he won the McNamee award; A History of Clare Castle and its Environs; and Clare and the Great War. He has written extensively on various aspects of County Clare history, which have been published in a range of local historical journals. ISBN: 978-1-9161375-9-2Format: Paperback
Price:€20.00
Crowdfunding the Revolution: The First Dáil Loan and the Battle for Irish Independence
In 1919, the revolutionary Irish government launched an audacious plan to finance a counter-state in open defiance of British rule in Ireland. Half the money was to be raised in Ireland and half in America. This start-up government was determined not only to replace the British administration in Ireland but also to implement its own industrial and financial policies, including establishing a national bank. It was imperative that the domestic funding campaign succeed. Without funds, the counter-state government would be doomed to failure. A financial ‘Ho Chi Minh Trail’ was established; couriers secretly began distributing three million promotional leaflets throughout the country and carrying subscriptions to Dublin. The money was laundered into bank accounts and converted into gold using a ‘gold exchange network’. This is the untold history of the fight for the revolutionary government’s funds, the bank inquiry that shook the financial establishment and the first battle in the intelligence war.
Patrick O’Sullivan Greene, from Killarney, Co. Kerry, has been an activist investor for almost twenty years, was an award-winning equity analyst, and a qualified Chartered Accountant. More interested in business than pure finance, he expresses his entrepreneurial spirit through roles as a co-founder, director, mentor, and sometimes investor, in start-up companies. Patrick has worked in Dublin, London, New York and France.ISBN: 978-1-9161375-8-5Format: Paperback
Price:€20.00
Different and the Same: A Folk History of the Protestants of Independent Ireland
This work explores the folk history, traditions and narratives of the Protestant minority in the Republic of Ireland. The author investigates the cultural, rather than simply faith-based, aspects of the group, incorporating issues of identity, custom and belief in a study that took place with the support of the National Folklore Collection.
Deirdre Nuttall is an author and academic from New Ross, Co. Wexford. She studied folklore and archaeology at UCD and took a master’s degree in social anthropology at the University of Durham, before returning to UCD to complete a PhD in folklore/ethnology. She has carried out research in Ireland, Newfoundland and Guatemala.ISBN: 978-1-913934-11-8Format: Paperback
Price:€20.00
Portlaoise: An Illustrated History
Around the year 1548, the English built a fort in the Laoghaise (or Leix) region to guard against attacks on the Pale. In 1556 Queen Mary 1 decided on the plantation of the Irish territories, by confiscating their land and giving it to English settlers, calling the area Queen's County and stipulating that Fort Leix (Port Laoghaise) be renamed Mary Burgh. In this work, author and local historian Joe Curtis explores the visual history of Portlaoise as it developed up to the modern age, covering various aspects of religion, education, health, business and law and order along the way.
ISBN: 978-1-9161375-7-8Format: Paperback
Price:€16.99
Strandhill: An Illustrated History
Strandhill, the largest coastal village in Sligo, has long been a much-loved destination for tourists, the surfing and water-sports community and for outdoor enthusiasts of all types. It is also a place of immense historic interest with a rich and varied past that local author and journalist Peigin Doyle explores in this beautifully illustrated work. Containing previously unseen archive photographs and images, this is a work that will long be treasured by locals and visitors alike. Peigin Doyle is an author, journalist and PR consultant based in Sligo. Her specialist areas are history, heritage and archaeology. She has previously published in these areas for the Office of Public Works (OPW) and for Wordwell Books.
ISBN: 978-1-9161375-4-7Format: Paperback
Price:€16.99
Kilkenny: City of Heritage
This is an expertly researched but accessibly written history of the streetscapes and buildings that define Kilkenny itself. This fully illustrated work explores the three stages of the development of the city, through its Medieval, Georgian and Victorian ages. Divided into those three sections, this highly informed and timely work is aimed at the dedicated local history readership alongside the tourist market.
Pat Dargan is an architect, historian, author, and member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland and the Royal Institute of British Architects. ISBN: 978-1-9161375-1-6Format: Paperback
Price:€16.99
The Shadow War: Michael Collins and the Politics of Violence
Insurgencies are as psychological and political as much as military. In the War of Independence, the Irish needed to remain active for longer than the nerves of liberal Britain could stand, and they succeeded. Irish governance, rather than military victory, was always the goal. If success can be defined as doing more with less, then Michael Collins must be counted as among the great guerrilla planners of the twentieth century. He understood the limits of what could be achieved by violence – and when to forgo violence for negotiation.
Joseph E.A. Connell Jnr is the author of Dublin Rising 1916 and Who’s who in the Dublin Rising 1916, published in 2016 by Wordwell. He writes a regular column in History Ireland and is a regular contributor to Newstalk’s Talking History programme.ISBN: 978-1-9161375-0-9Format: Paperback
Price:€18.99
Burncourt: A History
Burncourt is a rural area in Co. Tipperary. The name derives from the burning of the Everard Mansion in 1650. This was done by Cromwell or, as local lore has it, by Lady Catherine Everard, who did not want the castle to fall into Cromwellian hands. The castle was never reoccupied and now lies as an imposing ruin on the landscape. Burncourt is an area where history abounds. Yet we can never know the full story of a place; all that can be provided are glimpses into the past. In this work, author Rose M. Cleary allows us to look at how the area developed and evolved, and how it was shaped by its rich history. This is Burncourt.
Rose M. Cleary is an author, archaeologist and native of Burncourt. She worked in the Archaeology Department in UCC for many years, specialising in Irish prehistory. She has been involved in archaeological field work, excavations and the surveying of archaeological sites across Munster. She has published extensively on many aspects of Irish archaeology, including the excavations at Burncourt Castle.ISBN: 978-1-916137-5-5Format: Paperback
Price:€18.99
The Emergency: A Visual History, 1939-1945
In September 1939 the Second World War broke out. The fact that Ireland remained neutral in the conflict is well known. What is far less well-known is that from 1939 onwards Ireland prepared to defend itself from invasion. Combining many previously unseen photographs and documents and with a text based on research in Defence Forces and official archives, this book is an illustrated photographic and documentary history of the military and defensive preparations made by Ireland’s Defence Forces during the Second World War, what became known officially only as ‘The Emergency’.
John Gibney is the author of A Short History of Ireland (Yale), Ireland and the Popish Plot (Palgrave), The United Irishmen (Pen & Sword) and an author in the 16 Lives series (O’Brien Press). He is a regular contributor to History Ireland magazine and RTE Radio and is Assistant Editor of the Royal Irish Academy’s Documents on Irish Foreign Policy series. Michael Kennedy is the Executive Editor of the Royal Irish Academy’s Documents on Irish Foreign Policy series. He is a member of the Irish Manuscripts Commission, a Research Associate of the Centre for Contemporary Irish History at Trinity and a Visiting Professor at Liverpool Hope University. He was formerly an adjunct Professor of History at University College Dublin. He is a regular commentator on radio and television on modern history and current affairs. Commandant Daniel Ayiotis is the Director of the Military Archives ISBN: 978-1-9161375-3-0Format: Paperback
Price:€20.00