Ireland Books

Not only is the author obviously erudite about his subject matter, he is in love with it, making this book more than just an outsider's account of a city's cultural history. Exploring the 'mythos' of St. Petersburg through the work and lives of many of the creative spirits who either lived here or reflected the city in their works -- Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoyevski, Akhmatova among the better-known -- Volkov brings to life the very streets, houses, and canals of a great city on the border of Russia and Europe. But even more, his reader has the great pleasure of being accompanies on this journey by the very Russian-intellectual thoughtfulness and erudition, 'intelligentnost', of the author. Warmly recommended indeed.

Solomon Volkov is a sorcerer. He will have you chuckling out loud one minute & weeping the next! In the pages of this book, you will come to know the people of St. Petersburg; their glory, their sorrow, their passion, their genius. Volkov has brought this immortal city across the ocean and planted it firmly in my heart. It has instilled in me a deep appreciation for the talents of those who, in some cases, forfeited theirs lives for the sake of creative freedom.

Solomon Volkov has prepared for Western readers a breathtaking history of St. Petersburg's cultural treasures. Anyone who has seen "The Nutcracker Ballet" should read this book. Volkov brings forth the great ballet artists, classical music composers, painters, and writers who were centered in St. Petersburg, Russia's "window on Europe". Most of these great artists are as familiar to western readers as Tchaikovsky. But we are also introduced to equally great artists, poets, and writers we didn't know before. The introduction is invaluable. Underlying the "stars" of center stage, and running throughout the 300 years of cultural history is a constant reference to the "mythos of St. Petersburg" which Russian emigres worldwide will recognize with longing and affection. It is important to learn of the deeply-felt magical aura this city imposed on the artists and writers who lived there, including on Solomon Volkov himself.

Briefly - this multi-layer book is a masterpiece of modern political science. This history of Romanian Communism is one particular case speaking crystal-clear about global Communism . Due to Vladimir Tismaneanu and his history of Romanian Communism we have an accurate, a splendid x-ray of Communism in the world.
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More than that this book is as a wonderful political novel - written by Vladimir Tismaneanu with genius and, believe me, plenty of fine, ironical humor.

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Therefore, reading this work, you can easily re-make historically and politically the whole nightmare of the Communist era, in Romania, and in Europe, and world-wide as well. Yes - a tragic nightmare. A disaster.
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Vladimir Tismaneanu presents to us, with knowledge and skills of a master in laser-surgery, the anatomy and the functions of this Monster , Communism - alas ! somehow still alive . His lesson is a fundamental lesson about humankind's fatal errors and disasters ... which we do not have the right to repeat and re-live. At least, because you have to admit this terrible reality: nazism = communism = Islamic terrorism. At last but not at least, considering this irrefutable truth - I warmly recommend you the lesson of Vladimir Tismaneanu, his work as a unique book of our modern times. A healing book !
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And, for this lesson, we definitely have to be grateful, from the bottom of our hearts, to Vladimir Tismaneanu - who is practically the genuine creator of the modern school of Romanian political science.

After "Stalinism for All Seasons" it must be truly depressing to consider writing books of political sociology on the topic of the communist grand narrative. This is not only because Tismaneanu's opus, the outcome of a lifelong fascination with the topic, is so well-stocked with quality historical data (his archival research, and access to unique resources can hardly be replicated), but also because the author is a genuine maestro of both analytical insight and of a captivating writing style.
It is astonishing how he managed to strike the right balance between a sociological-political excursus of great analytical accuracy with a novel-like narrative that stretches over almost a century and whose charm ruins your work agenda for several days.
Although the book's focus is the case of the pariah Romanian Communist Party, Tismaneanu immerses this case in the wider phenomenon of world communism. The reader is stunned to discover, en premiere, the constitution of informal transnational party networks and narratives that spanned from Vietnam to Greece, and Romania. Particularly fascinating are Tismaneanu's foray into mechanisms of Leninist and Stalinist manipulation of the (rather excessively)romanticized world communism" of the 20s and 30s, as well as his treatment of the role of memory, charisma, nationalism and aesthetics in the ascension, ossification and in the decay of the party.
We have access to the operationalization of general issues of interest for political scientists such as puzzling hybridizations of mechanisms for political power conquest and maintenance, the crucial role of personalities (that escapes facile research designs accomodation), how resources are distributed and conflits are settled in opaque political machines.
For those interested in how birth pathologies impact the subsequent development of radical political projects that end up reaching the lands of dystopia, this read is undoubtedly set to be on list of classics.

Professor Tismaneanu, one of the sharpest analysts in the field of Eastern European politics, has written what is no doubt the definitive comprehensive study of the Romanian Communist Party. Brilliantly written and painstakingly researched over many years, the work will be appreciated by anybody interested in Eastern European politics or the stalinist system and its various deviations.

A solid political science work, the prose is lively and the entire work, complete with the cast of characters at the end, reminds me more of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury than other blander political analyses.

A superb book.

Clair Wills's That Neutral Island shows how World War II dragged Ireland into the twentieth century and that century's social and political struggles.

Wills describes how the Taoiseach (prime minister) Eamon de Valera used the policy of neutrality to neutralize the IRA, which was still blowing up movie theaters and trying to kill Irish police in its war against the partition. In December 1939, after the war started and when the Irish were as afraid of a German invasion as the British were, the IRA stole a million rounds of ammunition from a magazine fort. But tipsters (or informers, depending on your perspective) helped the police recover most of the ammunition. "The war had put the conflict between the state and the IRA on a different footing."

The de Valera government produced rural "Step Together fairs" with propagandistic tableaux and dramas reminiscent of medieval morality plays.

Most Irish agreed that there was no choice other than to remain neutral. They couldn't defend against a German invasion, and there were advantages to both Britain and Nazi Germany in Ireland's staying one of the "small countries" that didn't officially take sides.

One TD (member of parliament) did call neutrality a policy of "dishonour,"
"not in the true interests, moral or material, of the Irish people." But he was in the minority.

Most Irish seemed to agree with de Valera: "Ordinary prudence is not cowardice."

In 1933 there were over 100,000 "Blueshirts," members of one of the Irish fascist parties. Even when undisguised fascist ideology went out of fashion as the war went on, many right-wingers (influenced by the Catholic clergy) held up fascist countries as an example: "True to Catholic traditions, Ireland, Spain and Portugal may yet be the salvation of the world . . ." (The Donegal Democrat newspaper)

One of the most interesting stories Wills tells is of the Irish writer Francis Stuart, a "romantic outcast." Born Protestant, he converted to Catholicism. One of his novels, the futuristic dystopia Pigeon Irish, was "one of the strangest books to be written about Ireland in the last century," and it "attracted the attention of the ultra-Catholic nationalist fringe."

Stuart went to Germany and broadcast radio propaganda (urging continued neutrality) on Irland-Redaktion from 1942 to 1944.

Stuart reminds me of the French fascist writer Robert Brasillach, who, besides writing for pro-German papers during the Occupation, made a propaganda visit to the German army during the war. Since de Valera's government enforced their idea of neutrality strictly, Francis Stuart was able to return to Ireland after the war and live to be an old man, unlike Brasillach, who was executed for treason despite appeals by Resistance fighters to de Gaulle for clemency.

Wills describes a huge irony - - it was de Valera's actions after the war was over that disgraced his neutral policy much more than anything he did or didn't do while the fighting was going on. (The 1944 election supported de Valera and his policy.)

Hitler's death was announced on May 1, 1945, and on May 2 de Valera paid an official condolence call on the German Envoy to Ireland. This was two weeks after the first reports from Buchenwald.

De Valera was dipolomatically correct but politically clumsy. A lot of Irish already felt guilty that their "neutrality" was really "collaboration by omission."

The subtitle to Clair Wills's book is "A Cultural History of Ireland During the Second World War." It may be "a" cultural history, but Wills shows there were many "cultures": traditional and modern, Catholic and Protestant, anglophiles and England-haters, supporters of both sides in the civil war.

But one of the main divisions seems to be between Irish who wanted their country to be part of the rest of the world and those who wanted their "dark" back.

Along with the Civil War, the "Emergency" (i.e. WW2) is often glossed over in the Irish collective memory.

Growing up in Ireland in the 70s and 80s, i heard only echoes of the Second World War. My grandfather would tell me about how the government mandated that coils of barbed wire were put into our larger fields to stop warplanes landing. My family was forced to grow tillage on land which was more suitable for cattle and sheep grazing. Canadian relatives stationed in Enniskillen would tell me about weekend trips to Dublin, where there was little or no blackout, and they would drink in bars with German servicemen who were sitting out the war in the Curragh (but were sometimes let out at weekends to visit Dublin). They also told me of the rumours that U-Boats refueled in Clew Bay. English friends explained how the lights of Dublin allowed German bombers to locate Manchester and Liverpool. Our local castle sheltered some Jewish children from mainland Europe, but that initiative was run by an American, not by Irish people (and it raised controvery in the Irish parliment, so a guarantee had to be given that the Jewish children would not mix with the local people. That castle is right in front of our farm). Following the war, many German people arrived in Ireland where there was little or no anti-German sentiment, and many settled a few miles from where I grew up, starting businesses and creating a lot of jobs. The war was never mentioned of course.

So, I always found that period of Irish history personally very interesting. I was really pleased to find this book. Reading this book answered a lot of questions for me. It answers the question "Why was the government neutral?" (there really was little choice). And, since the book is very strong on the cultural history of the time, it answer the question "What was it like to live in Irish Free State then?". It was also interesting to read about the attitude of Irish-Americans in the US forces to their own neutral homeland, and about Northern Ireland (where there was no conscription, unlike in Britain).

The book is well written and readable. I read most of it on a single plane trip. Highly recommended.

As an event, the Second World War was impossible to escape. Though many countries sought to distance themselves from the fighting, nearly all were affected to one degree or another by the global conflagration. One of those was Eire, the nation that had only recently wrested itself from the British empire but now found itself facing the conflict by its proximity to Great Britain. Though the politics and the policies of Ireland during the war have been the subject of numerous books, Clair Wills has written something different, a "cultural history" which examines the impact of the "Emergency" (the name the Irish government gave to the situation) upon Irish life.

Wills begins by setting the scene with a portrait of Ireland in the 1930s. With it, she underscores just how rural and primitive much of Ireland was, and the growing contrast between the "traditional" Ireland of poor farms and the "modern" Ireland of towns and cities. It was in this context that Ireland was grappling with modernity on its own terms, with much of the resistance dictated by the influence of the Catholic church and attitudes of its adherents. Ireland was also only just beginning to emerge from the shadow of British rule, developing its own identity as a nation and dealing with such legacies as the remnants of the Irish Republican Army.

All of this underscores just how unprepared Ireland was to deal with the emerging war on the European continent. Wills reminds readers that Ireland's stance was no different from that of other small European countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark, none of whom had the resources (let alone the desire) to be drawn into a large-scale conflict. Yet unlike these other countries, Ireland enjoyed the luxury of geography afforded them as an island nation and the indirect protection of British arms. Such protection could not shield them completely from the war, however. Bodies of sailors from sunken ships washed up along the southern coast, the result of fighting in the Atlantic which curtailed Ireland's trade with the outside world and forced the rationing of numerous commodities. Propaganda filled the airwaves, as both sides sought to nudge Ireland to their side, counteracting the government's strenuous effort for "balance" that belied any moral judgment of the conflict.

Throughout this account, Wills uses the lives and stories of writers to shine a light on how individuals reacted to the conflict. What emerges is a country in the conflict but not of it, a haven for many people (including soldiers who would head south from wartime Northern Ireland for relaxation without the fear of the nightly blitz) and a land encased in a cocoon of denial to others. She also looks at the motivations of the thousands of Irishmen and Irishwomen who crossed over to join the conflict, and the concerns of the thousands who were caught up in it against their will. While somewhat repetitive in the later chapters, Wills describes all of this with great insight into the effects of the Emergency upon both the Irish people and their efforts to define themselves as a new nation in the world, making it a book well worth reading.

The subject of The Third Crown has speial relevance in our century. As nations are getting more interdependent and wars potentially more destructive, a global organization to mediate international disputes became a necessity in our time. In centuries past it was the papal government that exercised the function of arbitrating legitimacy as understood at the time. If we peek behind the curtain of the past , we may discern some lessons for the future. The book discusses, among other topics, the military policy of the popes, their peacekeeping efforts, their awards of imperial and royal crowns, and their global territorial judgments. Today the United Nations performs many of the former functions of the papal government,

The subject matter of The Third Crown has special relevance in our century. As nations are getting more interdependent and wars potentially more destructive, a global organization to mediate international disputes became a necessity in our time. In centuries past it was the papal government that exercised the function of arbitrating legitimacy as understood at the time. If we peek behind the curtain of the past, we may discern some lessons for the future. The book discusses, among other topics, the military policy of the popes, their peacekeeping efforts, their awards of imperial and royal crowns, and their global territorial judgments. Today the United Nations performs many of the former functions of the papal government.

The subject of The Third Crown has speial relevance in our century. As nations are getting more interdependent and wars potentially more destructive, a global organization to mediate international disputes became a necessity in our time. In centuries past it was the papal government that exercised the function of arbitrating legitimacy as understood at the time. If we peek behind the curtain of the past , we may discern some lessons for the future. The book discusses, among other topics, the military policy of the popes, their peacekeeping efforts, their awards of imperial and royal crowns, and their global territorial judgments. Today the United Nations performs many of the former functions of the papal government,

I am a huge fan of Sasek so I like every book he's wrote and illsutrated. This one abut Ireland is nice and funny and "greener".
As I think that Sasek is one of the best children illustrator I suggest this one and even the other ones. My daughter loves it and she learns many informations reading it.

Great book for my grandchildren for St. Pat's Day. Well written, good pics and terrific information about Ireland.

The illustrator, M.Sasek, lives up to his reputation with wonderfully illustrated images of Ireland both in the city and the countryside. (Be wary of amazon's packaging. I ordered a new book and part of the cover was dog eared)

Dr. Blaustein's book is destined to become a standard reference for teachers and students of History, English, American and Ethnic Studies. The author simplifies the complex connections between Appalachian and Scotish traditions. He concludes that despite the pressures from dominant cultures, traditions are as tough as thistles and briers to destroy. Dr. Blaustein applies folklore and oral history techniques to prove that cultural revitalization movements have helped empower people who are oppressed by outside colonial forces. This book is a strong reminder of the power of poetry and music to reinforce and regenerate ethnic identity.

This comparison between the marginalized peoples of Scotland and Appalachia deserves a wider reading than it's likely going to receive. Its theme transcends the treatment of these two groups by "mainstream cultures" and shows how marginalized people in general use their creative skills to rise above discrimination and shame. Blaustein is both a part of the Appalachian culture, having lived in East Tennessee since 1970, and yet removed from it as well, having grown up in Brooklyn. His years in Brooklyn helped him understand the Appalachian mindset, because, as he writes, "the Borough of Brooklyn is to the City of New York what Appalachia is to the United States--marginal, subordinate, and popularly portrayed as uncouth." This book describes the rise of the Appalachian studies movement in the region's colleges and universities and chronicles the growth of Scottish heritage celebrations in the United States, through excerpts from a personal interview with Waynesville, North Carolina, ballad singer and activisit Flora MacDonald Gammon, a driving force behind the annual Highland Games, held on Grandfather Mountain in Western North Carolina. A particularly powerful chapter recounts instances of "colonialism" among public school teachers who derided pupils for usages such as "hit" instead of "it." Blaustein strongly reinforces the notion that dialect is unrelated to intelligence. With the deplorable proposal by CBS to create a hillbilly reality series, this book is especially timely for those who seek to understand, rather than mock, the Appalachian mountain people and their rich and complex culture.

Richard Blaustein's book is fascinating comparative study of Appalachian and Scottish culture. The approach provides ways to ascertain salient features in the areas' contemporary culture that are derived from different, yet similar, historical backgrounds. Blaustein uses this analysis to demonstrate ways that folklore and literary arts contribute to the revitalization of culture and community life. Blaustein extends this argument to show that this type of revitalization is a creative resource for ameliorating psychological stresses and for unifying people politically to resist hegemonic forces in the wider society. Blaustein's critique of critical theory and deconstruction of deconstructionism are especially important contributions. This book is an important addition to post-postmodernist discourse, and it also serves as a great introduction to terrific writers from Appalachia and Scotland.

Full of interesting characters, cruel soldiers, vicious fellow prisoners. The physical desolation and emotional desperation these women experienced during their respective prison sentences is unforgettable! This book should be required reading for anyone interested in modern-day tragedies.

I think everyone should read this book. It only serves to make us realise how lucky we are and how we, especially in the West, can have nothing to complain about. The sufferings of the various women who in some cases had to fell trees in -50 degrees centigrade for 600grms of bread a day is inspirational. At some points I felt that I was ready fictional accounts as I found it hard to believe that mans inhumanity to man, or in this case, woman could be so mind numbingly awful - and for what.....truly terrifying. Exceptional read you will not be able to put it down and the strength of character of the women will stay with you long after you have finished the book.

This book is, without doubt, shocking, shaming, horrifying and representative of the utter degradation of the Stalin regime but equally, it is filled with courage, strength of spirit, endurance and compassion for one's fellow human beings. A collection of memoirs of women imprisoned in Stalin's purges, reading this is like having a series of intimate conversations with women caught up in something so evil and wicked it defies imagination.

I found myself wondering about the Russian psyche, the nature of communism, the parameters of dictatorship and the increasing obsession today's governments have with political correctness. There are scarcely words to describe the future an ordinary, well-educated, Moscow career girl could face for telling a slight joke, having vengeful neighbours, marrying the wrong man, being the child of the wrong parents or, indeed, doing nothing wrong at all. This stuff makes Orwell's 1984 look like The Simpsons and Kafka like Harry Potter. So unjust and farcical were the bases on which these women were incarcerated in prisons and camps no different than those created by Hitler and the Nazis, that you feel the victims and, indeed, the whole of the USSR was caught up in an indescribable nightmare. Truly, I don't have words to describe how sick and devastated I felt on completing this book. Read it and weep. This truly was Armageddon.

A good range of resources were used in this study. The author goes beyond the' them and us' stereotype of relationships in nineteenth century Ireland i.e. Protestant landlord v Catholic tenant, and explores the realities of life for people living on Otway estate in Templederry, Co.Tipperary

Miriam Lambe captures the activities and history of the life on the Castle Otway Estate from 1750-1853 in a manner rarely achieved by Historians.

The book is highly recommended if your ancestors came from Tipperary. The book gives a rare insight of life under the English landlord on an Irish Estate.

Miriam Lambe captures the activities and history of the life on the Castle Otway Estate from 1750-1853 in a manner rarely achieved by Historians.

The book is highly recommended if your ancestors came from Tipperary. The book gives a rare insight of life under the English landlord on an Irish Estate.

I read this book cover-to-cover before, during, and after a recent trip to Venice. I have to say that more than any of the other books about Venice that I looked at, this one had the most profound and positive impact on my trip and understanding of the city. No, it certainly won't tell you where to stay or eat, and you probably won't find yourself looking up churches and museums in it like you might in the Blue Guide or some other book. But the centuries of travelers' observations compiled in its pages will bring color and life to the city and its monuments and public spaces in a way that no single guide or history could. The passages in this book are not merely informative; they are also highly engaging and range from touchingly serious to laugh-out-loud funny. If you are going to Venice, or if you merely want to travel there from your armchair, get this book before you even consider getting any other!

I bought this anthology in the months prior to a trip to Venice, after reading editor John Julius Norwich's excellent "A History of Venice", to which it makes a terrific companion volume. These first-hand historical accounts present a colorful review of divergent viewpoints on "La Serinissima", from its distant origins in the Dark Ages up through the 20th century.

Though billed as a "traveller's companion", this is not a guide book in any sense of the phrase; rather, it serves to give one a sense of the history and character of the city and its most prominent features through letters, journals, and essays spanning the nearly 1400 years of its existence. Amongst the commentators are humorists like Mark Twain, great eccentrics like Thomas Coryat, litterateurs such as Henry James and aesthetes like John Ruskin -- and their contrasting views create a multifaceted portrait of this unique city, full of surprises and compulsively readable.

For those who want a sense of the hidden history and culture under the dazzling surface of Venice, who want to more deeply appreciate the city and its sights while experiencing them, this collection is highly recommended.

Lord Norwich is a consumate storyteller with an incredible ability to weave various sources of information into a compelling narrative--or in this case, a series of anecdotes. I can hardly recommend this highly enough. His choices of material are brilliant, his narration masterful, and the overall sense of place perfectly fitted to the Most Serene Republic.

Also not to miss is his A History of Venice and Paradise of Cities: Venice In the 19th Century. The letters written by Euphemia Ruskin inspired several characters in my second novel!

Venice for Pleasure is useful for the traveler or writer, as well, as is Jan Morris' The World of Venice.

Another excellent book by John Fine.

Treasures of the Spanish Main: Shipwrecked Galleons in the New World tells of gold, treasure, and fleets which promised riches to divers who would unearth them. It's a history of the ships who sailed the 'Golden Highway' laden with gold - and it uses both historical record and the diving explorations of modern treasure hunters to spice its story of pirates, wrecks, and history. An excellent adventure evolves.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I live in Nevada, which if it were a country would be the third largest producer of gold in the world. Each year Nevada produces a bit more than 7,000,000 ounces of gold. Mr. Fine has looked at the Spanish records and in the years between 1493 and 1780 103,246,510 ounces of gold were produced and sent back to Spain in approximately 17,000 voyages. Some estimates are that 10% of those voyages never made it back to Spain. That's ten million ounces of gold at the bottom of the ocean somewhere. There are also emeralds, silver and other treasures.

Unfortunately, finding and then recovering anything of value is no simple matter. This book goes into detail about seven treasure ships that sunk and were then subsequently found and from which treasure has been removed. The sunken ships, the men who found them, and the results brought to the surface are discussed.

This is a beautifully printed, well illustrated, and written with a great understanding of the challenges faced by the salvagers.