Favorite Book on Modern Ireland?

southsiderosie · 09-11-2011 07:36PM #1

For such a small country, there is a terrifyingly huge volume of output when it comes to Irish history. But a lot of it seems to focus on the pre-independence era, and the period from the mid-1920s to the 1980s seems to be a bit of a black hole (relatively speaking, anyway).

Do people have a favorite book on modern Irish history? It doesn't have to be academic, but something you think really captures or explains parts of this time period well, whether a biography or an analysis of a specific time period or political party. I've found a few I quite liked for Northern Ireland, but I haven't for the Republic, and trying to sift through everything that is out there is like trying to take a sip of water from a fire hose.

Cheers.

nimrod86 · 09-11-2011 07:54PM

Ross O' Carroll Kelly!

landsleaving · 09-11-2011 07:56PM

The end of my junior cert history book was great for modern Ireland, it had a picture of Zig and Zag.

Wolfe Tone · 09-11-2011 07:57PM

A Secret History of the IRA, Ed Moloney. A great read.

Dotrel · 09-11-2011 07:58PM

Roy Keane's biography.

Might give some insight into how the county changed from 'we' into 'me'.

ChunkyLover_53 · 09-11-2011 08:00PM

Barrytown Trilogy

(Snapper/Van/Commitments)

and

Spastic Hawk by the Rubber Bandits

orourkeda · 09-11-2011 08:15PM

Anne and Barry

sensibleken · 09-11-2011 08:16PM

i almost exclusively read irish history books but pre act of union stuff is the most interesting imo

im invisible · 09-11-2011 08:23PM

orourkeda wrote: »

Ann and Barry

For Your Pleasure...

southsiderosie · 09-11-2011 10:16PM

sensibleken wrote: »

i almost exclusively read irish history books but pre act of union stuff is the most interesting imo

Why? And what would you recommend?

sensibleken · 09-11-2011 10:25PM

southsiderosie wrote: »

Why? And what would you recommend?

call it a rediculous obsession

a really interesting read is 'Land of women' by Lisa M Bitel. Its all about women and the family unit in gaelic Ireland, a fascinating juxtaposition to what you'd expect. The life of Saint Columba by Adomnán is good to the point of funny because it gives insight into the propaganda of the early celtic church. Also the writings of giraldus cambrensis who was the propagandist for the norman invasion give similar insight.

09-11-2011 10:27PM

Ireland Since The Famine by F. L. S. Lyons.

4zn76tysfajdxp · 09-11-2011 10:27PM

Ten Men Dead is a good one. It's about dem Nordys though so maybe that's out.

John Doe1 · 09-11-2011 10:28PM

Bertie Ahern: The cnut years

starbelgrade · 09-11-2011 10:30PM

sensibleken wrote: »

call it a rediculous obsession

a really interesting read is 'Land of women' by Lisa M Bitel. Its all about women and the family unit in gaelic Ireland, a fascinating juxtaposition to what you'd expect. The life of Saint Columba by Adomnán is good to the point of funny because it gives insight into the propaganda of the early celtic church. Also the writings of giraldus cambrensis who was the propagandist for the norman invasion give similar insight.

Jaysus... I thought I'd tuned into "The View" there for a minute.

SEPT 23 1989 · 09-11-2011 10:30PM

"The Lidl Specials"

starbelgrade · 09-11-2011 10:31PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Ireland Since The Famine by F. L. S. Lyons.

I prefer "Ireland During the Famine Years" by N.P. Tayto.

Ninap · 09-11-2011 10:41PM

Best book on recent Irish social history - Anglo Republiv by Simon Carswell

Best book on Northern Ireland - Secret History of IRA (Moloney)

Best novel on contemporary Ireland - Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

Mardy Bum · 09-11-2011 10:51PM

John Bull's Other Island. It was wrote a hundred years ago and its still a good depiction of Ireland over the last twenty years.

HugoBradyBrown · 09-11-2011 10:54PM

The best book on recent Irish history is Dr John Bowman's "Window and Mirror: RTÉ Television: 1961-2011", Cork: Collins, 2011.

It treats of RTE, but, that means giving a full treatment of Irish history in this period, heavily illustrated. It has been getting uniformly excellent reviews, in the press and in the broadcast media. Gay has spoken about it at length on his RTE Lyric FM show both last Sunday and the Sunday before, and indicated that it (together with Brendan Balfe's Irish Voice set of 3 CDs, based on his superb series of radio programmes about major Irish cultural and political figures) would make the ideal Christmas gift for anyone, whether they had an interest in history, or in RTE, or not.

And it costs only about 20 Euros.

Hugo Brady Brown

kupus · 10-11-2011 12:13AM

Last of the donkey pilgrims by kevin o hara, an irish american travelling thru out Ireland with a donkey is one of the funniest books I've had the pleasure of reading.....

If anybody has not read it or heard of it, I recommend it right away
link here to see it on amazon..........
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Donkey-Pilgrims-Kevin-OHara/dp/0765309831

Another one similar is Round Ireland With A Fridge by tony hawkes, title says it all really another good read.
link here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Round-Ireland-Fridge-Tony-Hawks/dp/0091867770

last one
McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery in Ireland by pete mccarthy another very funny read,
http://www.amazon.co.uk/McCarthys-Bar-Journey-Discovery-Ireland/dp/0340766050/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Johro · 10-11-2011 12:44AM

'Ireland, a Terrible Beauty', by Leon Uris with photo's by his wife Jill.
It's kind of a trip around Ireland accompanied by amazing photographs of people and places. It's a bit old now, I remember it from the eighties.
Makes ya kinda nostalgic.
From what I understand, the inspiration for this book came out of Leon Uris' research for the novel, "Trinity".

'It's a pity that this book is out of print. It is an excellent photographic journal -- Jill did the photography, and Leon wrote the narrative. It gives a very real portrait of Ireland, and how this moment in history has arrived. You will not find these pictures in any travel brochure -- they are quite remarkable. '

'The tragedy is that this wonderful book is out of print. Leon Uris and the Irish then-Mrs. Uris, Jill, collaborated on this work, which grew out of Uris' research for his novel, TRINITY.

The photographs are haunting, each one a poem. Few places on earth are more beautiful or have had the soil moistened by more tears. Irish history is sorrowful yet uplifting, and the result is the "terrible beauty" this book speaks of and to.

Published in 1978, this picture essay captures an Ireland that was still on the margins of Europe, a fly in the amber, that had not quite shaken off the Nineteenth Century.

Thirty years on, Ireland has transmogrified into a EuroYuppie haven, and until recently, had the fastest-growing economy in Europe. In 1978 (or even in 1990, when I was there), Dublin could be walked entire in a day; no longer.

It's a fair bet that upscale condos, Tesco Supermarkets and the golden arches now stand in many places pictured in this book. All of which makes IRELAND: A TERRIBLE BEAUTY more valuable than before.' - Amazon reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/Ireland-Terrible-Beauty-Jill-Leon/dp/0553012088

ascanbe · 10-11-2011 01:22AM

The Lifelong Season - Keith Duggan
Hanging From the Rafters - Kieran Shannon

Although they're both, ostensibly, sports books, they're also two of the best social documents i've read in recent times.

TheUsual · 10-11-2011 02:51AM

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

A Secret History of the IRA, Ed Moloney. A great read.

You should bring that book to the recycling centre ... complete agenda driven rubbish.
"An un-named source say that"
"The dogs on the street know that"

Great writer ... No.
****head english public schoolboy who got bullied for having an Irish name ... Yes.

I didn't buy the book, it was a Christmas present and I sent it back in the post asking for a book token or money back.

Complete fantasy.

Pompey Magnus · 10-11-2011 03:01AM

"Michael Collins" by Tim Pat Coogan and "The Squad" by Liam Moroney should be compulsorary reading for anyone with such a poor grasp of Irish history that they try to argue that the old IRA were nothing like the Provos.

Events such as burning young men alive in industrial ovens and ordering the execution of Catholic teenage girls are too easily swept under the carpet by the Old IRA revisionists who love to condemn northern Republicans.

jethro081 · 10-11-2011 04:11AM

Pompey Magnus wrote: »

"Michael Collins" by Tim Pat Coogan and "The Squad" by Liam Moroney should be compulsorary reading for anyone with such a poor grasp of Irish history that they try to argue that the old IRA were nothing like the Provos.

Events such as burning young men alive in industrial ovens and ordering the execution of Catholic teenage girls are too easily swept under the carpet by the Old IRA revisionists who love to condemn northern Republicans.

the only thing id say against your point is that it is revisionism that has brought this side of the old ira to the fore. for decades basically all documentation of the war of independance was very much skewed in favour of the IRA. its only in later years that revisionist historians have sought to paint a more honest, and indeed, much less flattering portrayal of the old IRA.

I welcome such a revision by the way, there is much to admire about our past, but the truth is important, warts and all.

also, you are right, those are both great books. Bandit country is a very good read on the northern troubles in south armagh.

and anything by tim pat coogan is going to be good. his De velara bio was really fantastic. and as has been said before, the history of de velara tells a large part of the history of ireland, such was his role within the young state.

HugoBradyBrown · 10-11-2011 11:17AM

southsiderosie wrote: »

For such a small country, there is a terrifyingly huge volume of output when it comes to Irish history. But a lot of it seems to focus on the pre-independence era, and the period from the mid-1920s to the 1980s seems to be a bit of a black hole (relatively speaking, anyway).

Do people have a favorite book on modern Irish history? It doesn't have to be academic, but something you think really captures or explains parts of this time period well, whether a biography or an analysis of a specific time period or political party. I've found a few I quite liked for Northern Ireland, but I haven't for the Republic, and trying to sift through everything that is out there is like trying to take a sip of water from a fire hose.

Cheers.

Yes, we seem to produce more history than we can consume here, for such a small place.

Hugo Brady Brown

Killer Pigeon · 10-11-2011 11:39AM

Mein Kampf.

Morlar · 10-11-2011 12:01PM

Pompey Magnus wrote: »

"Michael Collins" by Tim Pat Coogan and "The Squad" by Liam Moroney should be compulsorary reading for anyone with such a poor grasp of Irish history that they try to argue that the old IRA were nothing like the Provos.

Events such as burning young men alive in industrial ovens and ordering the execution of Catholic teenage girls are too easily swept under the carpet by the Old IRA revisionists who love to condemn northern Republicans.

The Squad was written by T.Ryle Dwyer, and yes, I agree it's a mindblowing book to read.

'The Squad and the Intelligence Operations of Michael Collins'

I also reccomend this series of books by Mercier :

http://www.mercierpress.ie/MilitaryHistoryoftheIrishCivilWar/

& this one published in the last couple of weeks :

http://www.mercierpress.ie/Revolution:A_photographic_history_of_Revolutionary_Ireland_/597/

Pompey Magnus · 10-11-2011 12:04PM

Morlar wrote: »

The Squad was written by T.Ryle Dwyer,

Quite right, lazy googling by me there

Vicxas · 10-11-2011 01:35PM

nimrod86 wrote: »

Ross O' Carroll Kelly!

I was gonna say that too

Favorite Book on Modern Ireland?

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