This is an extremely well-organised and comprehensive treatment of its subject matter. Writing in a crisp, precise style, Connolly takes a thematic approach so that each chapter stands on its own. Not only is the book generously foot-noted but the author gives the reader a précis of the significant debates currently animating historians of the … Read more
Experimentation in historical writing and methodology in order to make it accessible and meaningful to a general readership is once again fashionable. The virtues of narration, imaginative reconstruction based partly on intuition, and the linking of disconnected developments over long periods of time are being tried and tested in order to create a more popular … Read more
Robert Bell In the cramped quarters of the attic of Belfast’s historic Linen Hall Library, a collection of 50,000 items of printed material about the current Northern Ireland troubles is in constant consultation. To the best of our knowledge, it is unique. For those of us who work in the Library, the Collection is therefore … Read more
Maria Luddy The obsessive fear of venereal disease in the Victorian period has been likened to the dread occasioned by AIDS today. The ravages of these diseases were seen in the mid-nineteenth century as a cause of the apparent weakness of the British army, a weakness most apparent in the aftermath of the Crimean war. … Read more
Kevin Whelan Why is hurling currently popular in a compact region centred on east Munster and south Leinster, and in isolated pockets in the Glens of Antrim and in the Ards peninsula of County Down? The answer lies in an exploration of the interplay between culture, politics and environment over a long period of time. … Read more