Sir, —Desmond Fennell (HI 13.5, Sept./Oct. 2005) avoids the Dark Agesentirely when the Church so ruthlessly imposed its dedication tosuperstition and ignorance that the Celtic Church in Ireland,sufficiently remote to escape the worst of its baneful influence, hadto rescue continental Europe. The protection of Charles the Baldallowed the best of those pioneers, the critical-thinking Irish … Read more
Sir, —Seamus Fox (HI 13.6, Nov./Dec. 2005) bases his letter on ‘theaftermath of the ambush’ and the killing of ‘unarmed Auxiliaryprisoners’. Owing to the editor’s note closing the debate, I’mrestricted in responding. Since a late amendment to my article (HI13.5, Sept./Oct. 2005) did not make it to the printing stage, theeditor, in recognition of this … Read more
Sir, —Anyone who was worried after Hiram Morgan left his position as joint editor of History Ireland that the magazine would lose its objectivity under the sole editorship of Tommy Graham and become much more Republican in tone should be alarmed by the last issue (HI 13.6, Nov./Dec. 2005). Graham takes a full paragraph in … Read more
An atlas of Irish history Ruth Dudley Edwards, with Bridget Hourican (Routledge, £14.99) ISBN 0415278597When it was first published in 1973 this work was welcomed as a snapshot of Irish history, a convenient repository of facts, and as a work that graphically conveyed its information through many elegantly drawn maps. A measure of its success … Read more
Through American and Irish wars: the life and times of General Thomas W. Sweeny, 1820–1892 Jack Morgan (Irish Academic Press, £19.50) ISBN 0716528134 Thomas Francis Meagher: the making of an Irish American John M. Hearne and Rory T. Cornish (eds) (Irish Academic Press, £19.50) ISBN 0716528134 The American Civil War, even more than the Revolutionary … Read more