Ireland Books

"The Curtain Rises" is an unusually fine report of individual lives under Soviet communism in Eastern Europe; how thoughtful resisters coped in their daily lives, and were enabled to participate in and shape the basic changes that occurred in their own lives, their communities and countries as they were freed from the constraints of oppressive government control. This book is filled with the life stories and philosophies of extraordinary individuals whose lives were changed by contacts with caring and experienced Westerners who helped them realize their dreams for change and decency.
Susan Shapiro got involved in change behind The Iron Curtain through her concern for the health and eating habits of a Hungarian boy who stayed in her home in Harrisburg, PA. Her concern led her to teach 500,000 teachers and millions of children behind the crumbling curtain not only how to live more healthily, but to change their own lives, their schools, and their communities through grass-roots actions.
This book can be read as fascinating social history of the Soviet Empire or as a blueprint for bringing about basic changes in countries around the world in our time.

I thought that this book was very well-written and extremely interesting. As a dedicated historian with a great interest in the Eastern European region, this book offered a different and unique perspective. It looked into the lives of the individuals, detailing their experiences with communism and the fall of communism. I highly recommend it and think that it would be a great supplement to a history class.

One of the most powerful books I've read in years.
No kidding.
As a professor, this book impressed me by its historical clarity.
And as a humanist, the book touched me for its poignant stories. The people that Susan Shapiro interviews are both ordinary and extraordinary. If you have a belief in the strength of the human spirit, this book will resonate with you. And if you don't, this book can help.

A great read! I highly recommend this book to any person with an interest in Eastern Europe. The writers truly capture the feel of what day-to-day life is really like for people in this fasctinating region of the world.

Mr. O'Clery puts a lot of background information into something most Americans know little about. There is always a lot going on in the background in any diplomatic activity. This is something that Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore missed out on where they should have publicized it more. Mr. Bush, Cheney and McCain - the "you don't talk to your adversaries who are always evil - clique need to read this especially in light of the success of ending the violence in Ireland.

In Ireland, Ulster and Britain, the book was titled "The Greening of the White House" - a much more apt title. That said, it shows how the Clinton administration is committed to shafting Ulster. No fence-sitting here. The US government under Clinton has underwritten pan-Irish national-chauvinist ambitions.

Conor O'Clery knows how to tell a story. Often politics and foreign policy get bogged down in minutae or are blunted by excessive academic language; this is definitely not the case here. The feel when reading Daring Diplomacy is one of being spirited along in back rooms and pubs to see how deals get done and meet those involved. The telling is personal, insightful, and deftly aware of the entangled connections in Irish policy.
If you are reading this as a student, I heartily recommend it. You will find the backstory gives a well-rounded look into some of the reasons why peace in N. Ireland has been so elusive (namely the British government). If you are just reading it for personal reasons, I think you will be quite happy with your choice. A good companion book after this one is George Mitchell's "Making Peace."

Daring Diplomacy was the perfect title for this wonderfully written book. Throughout the course of this book, Conor O'Clery traces the involvement of the Clinton administration in attaining a peaceful settlement to the conflict in Northern Ireland. What is most refreshing about this book is its wholehearted attempt to be honest and balanced--an honor not bestowed on many books written on the conflict in Northern Ireland. From Clinton's commitment during the 1992 presidential election campaign until immediately following the end of the IRA's ceasefire, this book chronicles the efforts of the Clinton Administration to involve all parties in discussions regarding the future status of Northern Ireland. The U.S., at times seeming to threaten the "special relationship" between itself and Britain contributed much to the current political situation in Northern Ireland--one in which we now have Loyalist and Republican ceasefires and a forum for talks on political representation. Daring Diplomacy gives f

A wonderful read. Well-documented and beautifully presented. It realistically evokes a time when honor fueled men to do their perceived duty without hesitation and with great patriotism.

The book via letters and diaries creates a true emotional atmosphere of World War I and those committed to serve. It would make a superb film!

Not to be forgotten the men of L Regiment. Thank you Mr Harris for the insight to a time before I was born and frankly of a different type of men who had so much to give and so much to lose but honor and duty were so important to them all. This was a wonderful book and if you lived as I did in the Hudson River Valley the memories of all of this are so important to me.

Being a native New Yorker and a lover of history I was pulled into this book. With few "unit histories" of the Great War, this one is a must for any serious reader. The unit, made up from the elite of NYC, and men of more humble backgrounds from upper NY, forged a unit while not heralded, most certainly worthy of this book. The story, while never quick moving, will be interesting for the serious reader. The unit saw serious action in breaching the Hindenburg line while attached to the British. Good for the serious student.

This book is well written, well researched and well titled. I devoured it in three sittings. While the First World War has been eclipsed by the Second World War for most Americans, this story captures a fascinating piece of America's earliest military history as a world power. I particularly enjoyed the vivid descriptions which the author used to recreate the past. The arduous conditions the men experienced in South Carolina, where they trained at a partially built national cantonment, are so well drawn it unfolds like a movie. Their surroundings in the U.S. and abroad are brought dramatically to life. The troopship's approach to the French sea coast and entry into Brest harbor, the march through the city and the French countryside complete with the smells of tree blossoms, the troop trains, the billets, etc. were all wonderful. The graphic descriptions of life in the training areas, the reserve areas, marching to the front, entering the trenches, enduring incessant bombardments, making nighttime forays into "No Man's Land" and fighting the big battles was gripping.

The author's diligent research makes this a good read and good history. This reader became convinced that what was known as the Silk Stocking Regiment was far more than spoiled rich boys playing war. When they entered the war they may have been naive, but they rose to the challenges they faced with great courage. Despite suffering terrible casualties they fought valiantly. Their parent unit, the 27th Division, did not fight with the main American forces, the A.E.F., in France. It was assigned to the British Expeditionary Forces (B.E.F.), ultimately under the command of an Australian General, but that did not dampen their fighting spirit.

These soldiers enjoyed broad public support of the people of New York, both upstate farmers ("apple knockers") and New York City socialites, because it blended men from both. The book goes to great length exploring the pedigrees of many of the men of the historic old New York 7th Regiment. It leaves no doubt that many of the men came from the highest class of American society. We are also introduced to some of the "apple knockers". The story proves to be a very interesting social history. The trials, accomplishments and valor left this reviewer feeling very proud of these American soldiers. That feeling of pride is tempered with sadness for the many lives of these fine men which were given so unselfishly.

Excellent portrait of this facinating King. Highly recommended. Buy the paperback though....$28.00 as opposed to $60.00.

The late Charles D. Ross presents here one of the most readable and interesting presentations of of English monarch ever written. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the king or his era-I used it extensively in my senior thesis!

Edward IV is one of the great enigmas of history. Even how he was able to become King is not self-evident. His seizing the throne was then followed by government marked by occasional brilliance and great folly. For someone who at times was keenly aware of dynastic considerations, his own marriage was the height of folly compounded by giving far too much influence to the Queen's relatives. He gave far too much trust, power and wealth to a few individuals, especially the Earl of Warrick and his traitorous brother Clarence alienating in the process much of the established nobility and wrecking in his early years the King's finances. Overthrown in the course of his reign, he nevertheless succeeded in recapturing the throne in short order and then repairing his fortunes spectacularly. Even so, this was accompanied by the strangest series of preparations for invasion of France, ending in an almost farcical procession in Northern France and a pusillanimous retreat. Lazy, debauched, perceptive and effective-many such adjectives can be applied to him - and all miss the puzzling essence of the man and his reign. What a set of stories could be woven out of this material without clearly capturing the essence of the situation! One cannot help wondering why of the adult kings between Richard II and Henry VII, Edward IV alone did not attract Shakespeare's pen.

Charles Ross wrote a fascinating book on this puzzling ruler, making as clear as the scanty and somewhat unreliable records allow the course of Edward's life and reign, and the various episodes that both fascinate and puzzle. The book (with a short introduction by R.A. Grifffiths rather than a revision by him) proceeds first by laying out the story, and then returning to give separate investigation of various aspects of Edward's rule, such as governance, his relations with the community and his finances. This latter subject is particularly well handled, as is the penultimate chapter on law and order. The story is well told, without excessive pedantry and without any attempt to hide when the record is unclear or the author has had to make large interpretations. One may not really know or understand Edward by the end of the book, but one's feeling is that it is the man himself who escapes capture by the biographer's art, not any weakness of the biographer himself. For those interested in such matters - and this is not light reading - Griffith's biography should prove highly satisfying.

Charles Ross presents an unforgettable tale of the most confusing, uneven and adventurous reign of any king in the English history. Edward IV remains the only king who was able to loose a kingdom and them successfully reclaim the crown. Possessing remarkable talents in administration and warfare, he however managed to bring the treasury to almost complete ruin by the end of his term, and botch the most impressive show of force in France any English king (including Edward III and Henry V) can ever master to assemble. Edward IV lived in the extraordinary age, full with great personalities like Richard Warwick the "Kingmaker", Margaret, the queen of Henry VI, and his own kid brother Richard, future most vilified by Shakespeare king Richard the III.

It is very easy to fell victim to novelized history when relating the events as extraordinary as the events of Edward's reign. Not Charles Ross. He is extremely well researched and versed in the records of the period, and presents the somewhat dry details of the records of the Household and Exchequer, in an interesting way and extremely well cross-referenced. Internal English sources are corroborated by continental and papal records. I would recommend this book to a serious student of history.

Also see Charles Ross's "Richard III" for a mysterious, bloody, and tragically brief concluding reign of Plantagenet dynasty. This one is also highly recommended.

This is an outstanding collection of letters and documents relating to one of the most important and influential person in English history. My only problem how the edition was published - the type font is way too small. I realize that the subject matter is wide ranging and some economies are necessary to keep the printing costs down - reducing the type front to squeeze in more text is one of them. Unfortunately, this makes casual reading very difficult.

This is a beautifully designed book. As to what's inside: It contains what too many of her biographers are either too dishonest, too ignorant, or, too afraid to include, i.e. her belief in God and her understanding that her country and her country's people had a unique place and a unique role in carrying out God's plan. Elizabeth I had a complete understanding. It's difficult to write off her accomplishments in learning at such a young age as being merely the result of having royal tutors helping her along. This is what many biographers try to do. There's never been an over-supply of young genius in royal families in any era. More attention, as well, should be paid to her reading. Reading great books has never been a guarantee of anything regarding somebody's understanding of themselves and the world, but it is, without exception, a key ingredient in the education (self-education or otherwise) of everybody who eventually DOES attain a real understanding of themselves and the world. Elizabeth's understanding may have even gone beyond herself and the world around her... These writings are not ideal as a window into her, but there is enough here to work up an impression above the words, and, coupled with a good biography such as the one by Paul Johnson the picture can become very complete.

Queen Elizabeth I of England has had hundreds of books written *about* her, but very few of them allow us to hear what she has to say in her own words. I found this an accessible, well-edited collection, not of *all* her words, but of a very good sample. It includes all of the speeches, prayers and poems she wrote that are available from reliable contemporary sources (as with all famous people, things have been attributed to her that she never wrote). It also includes -- and this is my favorite part -- a selection of her letters; sometimes the replies are also included, as with a series of angry letters she exchanged with King James of Scotland (all the while addressing him as "my right dear brother and cousin"). The documents range from formal speeches to Parliament to the occasional playful, teasing or personal note, such as the one she wrote to Lord Leicester in the Netherlands that begins, "Rob, I am afraid you will suppose by my wandering writings that a midsummer moon hath taken large possession of my brains..." Spelling and punctuation have been modernized, and unusual words have been footnoted, but the words are otherwise unaltered, and the texts are presented in full, sometimes in several versions where they differ significantly. I did find that a basic knowledge of the outline of the events of her life is immensely helpful in understanding who she is addressing and why, which is often mentioned only briefly in the notes. There is a certain amount of theorizing in the book's Preface about the "strategic gendering of Elizabeth's self-representation" -- but the texts really speak for themselves. This is a rare chance to see historical material that's often hard to locate, and an enjoyable chance to be "inside the head" of a fascinating historical person.

There are countless books on Tudor England and Elizabeth I in particular. So, it is refreshing to finally read some of the letters so many authors have used as source material in their books about the Virgin Queen. There's little doubt that she was well educated and highly intelligent. Now, readers ready and willing to dive into medieval letters, in the formal language of the time, will be rewarded by the ability to form their own opinion about whether this woman was politically savvy, or a political pawn.

You be the judge--no, really:)

I laughed out loud or got misty-eyed (sometimes simultaneously) at the photos and captions in this book. The photographer has captured the essence of doggy expression. One of my favorites (and there are many) is the tilted head and "I'm listening" look of the dog for whom it is wished, "May you always understand what is being said to you." This book is a lovely gift for yourself or any dog people you know.

I laughed out loud or got misty-eyed (sometimes simultaneously) at the photos and captions in this book. The photographer has captured the essence of doggy expression. One of my favorites (and there are many) is the tilted head and "I'm listening" look of the dog for whom it is wished, "May you always understand what is being said to you." This book is a lovely gift for yourself or any dog people you know.

I laughed out loud or got misty-eyed (sometimes simultaneously) at the photos and captions in this book. The photographer has captured the essence of doggy expression. One of my favorites (and there are many) is the tilted head and "I'm listening" look of the dog for whom it is wished, "May you always understand what is being said to you." This book is a lovely gift for yourself or any dog people you know.

I have seen this book and being a dog lover, I really enjoyed it. Some of the captions for the pictures made me laugh out loud. I saw an interview with the authors and the said that The dog we call an Irish Setter her in the US, is called a Red Setter in Ireland. The Pictures are great and the captions are even better.

In late 1993, right before the new year, Toni Dorado is returning home to Los Angeles to face the lover she left abruptly and to reconnect with her family. Her niece and her mother are very excited to have her back, but her sister Sylvia isn't happy at all, and she has her own problems in the form of an abusive husband. Toni struggles to make amends with Pat, her former lover, and the two slowly begin to communicate about where to go from here. As the various women's lives and sometimes volatile relationships collide, so too does the earth as a major earthquake hits the area in January 1994, forcing the women to face some naked truths about each other and about themselves. Even though the earthquake has a deus ex machina feel (where it solves problems so the characters don't have to), "Faults" is quite a remarkable novel for creating a beautiful portrait of a present-day Chicana family to which everyone can relate.

This book is excellent and readers of Ms. De La Pena's previous books will be reunited with some familiar characters. It's also a fascinating read for LA fans and fans of lesbian literature. It's the kind of novel you wish wouldn't end but when it does you know she'll be back with an even greater read next time! I think Terri De La Pena really captures what it's like to be a lesbian and a Mexican-American!

"Faults", (a book that has very few)-- is certainly a wonderful read! I've had the great pleasure of reading De La Pena's earlier books, and throughout each, the author exhibits a delightful writing style and a penchant for giving the reader a marvelous insight into some aspects of the trials, tribulations and ultimate triumphs of some Latino families. In this particular book, you are drawn into the day-to-day relationships between Toni, her family and her close friends, and you are kept interested, long after you have turned the last page. I recommend this book highly, in spite of the use of many Spanish phrases, which might require the use of a Spanish/English dictionary if you don't have at least a rudimentary understanding of the Spanish language.

Other reviewers have outlined the plot of this novel adequately, but more needs to be said about the deft characterizations, setting, and style.

The five primary characters in Faults have each been given a distinct voice. The novel is structured through short chapters, each in the first-person voice of five very different women. Terri de la Pena has created characteristic idioms, world-views, personalities, and character strenghts and 'faults' for each person. I was fascinated as these characters unfolded; it is a risky and, in Terri's hands, successful narrative technique.

Two reviewers complained about the mix of Spanish words and phrases in the narratives, a perspective I would like to counter. My Spanish understanding is based on a couple of semesters 20 years ago, and although I didn't understand the litteral meaning of every Spanish phrase, I found the use of Spanish absolutely authentic to the characters, and actually pretty easy to decode. In fact, there is often a translation of sorts in the context, many are English cognates, and others are common Spanish heard in the US. So don't let it put you off. Even when you don't understand the phrase, the intent and mood is clear. Actually, the use of Spanish adds a great deal to the novel--how much Spanish crops up in a character's thoughts, for instance, provides insight to her personal culture. Also, the presence of Spanish is important to the sense of living as Chicanas in an Anglo macroculture. Bilingualism (and not every Chicano/a speaks Spanish) must be an enormous, perhaps a defining part of the experience. For a non-Spanish speaker of another culture to criticize what is clearly a deeply imbedded cultural characteristic shows a regretable bias, and listening to it would limit one's aesthetic. Finally, I want to say that for Chicanas and others with Spanish-based cultures, the language mix must be quite welcome. (Terri de la Pena is not the only Chicana author writing in this manner, of course.)

I appreciate the attention Terri de la Pena pays to environment in her settings--from street and business names to architectural details. Though briefly mentioned, these things add to the authentic ring of the story.

One other strength of the structure created by the five woman characters is the way time unfolds as the characters speak. Each short narrative takes place within a given moment or brief period of time; in fact, each section is dated so we have a sense of events defining a period of several weeks. What we know about the past is colored by the POV of the speaker, so the contrasting views give us various "truths" that we must sort out as we perceive the biases of each woman.

I have focused on three aspects of Terri de la Pena's writing that contribute to the strength of "Faults." The sum is, of course, much more than the parts. The book is an important addition to lesbian literature which offers a reading experience rich on many levels. I recommend it.

This book tells the reader all he or she needs to know, and even some things they might not want to know about the food in the Georgian Royal Navy. In this highly detailed book, Ms. Macdonald traces the supply of food from sources to purchasing to consumption from the lower to the Captain. Included are charts of calories, vitamin content, recipes, conversion charts, etc., etc. The book is very readable and of use to the casual reader as well as the scholar. This is a permanent edition to my bookshelf.

Author Janet Macdonald writes an informative and in depth book about feeding English sailors in the early 19th century. Macdonald covers everything that made up the sailors diet, from hard tack (ships biscuit) to salted beef. She writes in detail for example how the hard tack was made, who made it, and how it was delivered, stored and dispensed on the ships. She covers the different subjects throughly and supports her writings with facts from many sources such as the Naval historical archives and log books to name a few sources.

This book is an interesting read for those who want to know about such a integral part of the English sailor's life!

In "Feeding Nelson's Navy", author Janet MacDonald has put together some remarkable research to lay waste the myths of shipboard feeding in the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.

The British Navy, in the long struggle against Revolutionary and then Imperial France, kept tens of thousands of men at sea for months on end. Popular myth has them subsisting on rotten salted meat and weevily bread. MacDonald shows the sailor aboard the average British warship ate a sufficient and reasonably nutritious diet. Official rations were based on biscuit (pilot bread for today's readers), salt beef, salt pork, cheese, peas, oatmeal, and beer. These were the foods which kept best in a world without refrigeration or canning. Other foods were provided when available, and the British Navy lead the way in experimenting with dried vegetables, "portable" soups, and lemon juice to stave off nutritional diseases such as scurvy.

The British Navy's ability to supply its sailors with a good ration through years of war were thanks to the efforts of the Navy Board and its victualing system. MacDonald's description of its business techniques may be daunting for the reader, but the lesson is that the system was made to work, around the fleet and around the world, in a consistent manner. No other navy of the period enjoyed so much consistent success at sea.

Along with the details of the ration cycle and the mechanics of the supply system, MacDonald provides considerable insight into "messing" at sea, a vital and often unremarked portion of naval culture.

This book is very highly reccommended to students of the Nelsonian Navy and of the Napoleonic Wars. MacDonald has mined this particular academic niche to its reasonable limits.

Cervantes in "Don Quixote" lampoons the writers of chivalric romances for failing to address the mundane realities of life, chief among them being how their heroic knights errant managed to feed themselves. To a lesser degree, perhaps, the modern authors of nautical fiction likewise do not much address the question of how their seaborne heroes (and their crews) were fed, day in and day out. Undoubtedly this is partly because it is far more interesting to write about boarding an enemy frigate than boiling salt beef, but I suspect that it also has to do with the absence of readily available, reliable information about the subject. Now, Janet Macdonald has addressed this want of discussion with "Feeding Nelson's Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era". Coming from a background of writing about cookery, she has tackled the complex and surprisingly mysterious question of how in the world the Royal Navy fed itself during the classic Age of Fighting Sail. Although it might be thought that a matter of such obvious vital importance to maintaining a fighting fleet of tens of thousands of mariners would have been recorded officially in detail, in point of fact Macdonald has had to sift through obscure primary documents such as ships' logs, personal memoirs, and period letters to adequately explore how it was all done: from procuring the foodstuffs (and drink) in the first place, to storing them, getting them to the ships in port and at sea, storing the victuals aboard, preparing meals, and serving them to officer and crews. And even with such diligent research, she must resort to informed speculation to address some questions, such as just how a ship's cook kept separate the rations for the various messes and served them out in an efficient manner. The breadth of coverage is impressive: the Navy's Victualling Board administration, officially mandated rations and substitutes, typical recipes, shipboard organization, disease and vermin, the "hardware" of food preparation and consumption (stoves and dining implements), and surrounding social customs. For anyone interested in the real world of the Royal Navy behind the fiction Horatio Hornblowers and Jack Aubreys, "Feeding Nelson's Navy" is a revelation, dispelling old myths and offering new facts such as the caloric and vitamin content of the men's meals. Macdonald throughout her book illustrates the practicalities of the subject by citing numerous real-life incidents drawn from period documents.

I enjoyed this book! A great story about the journeys we go on and how they can impact our lives.

Chris has a great sense of humour, and his love/hate relationship with the Irish shines through ih book as I giggled my way through the pages. It is great to read a 'regular blokes' writing!! :-)

Looking forward to the next adventure!

Not only is this book written by my brother an interesting and funny account of his travels in Ireland - more to the point - it has ME in it! Woohooo I'm famous... (Note to self: tone down my narcissistic tendencies). In all seriousness though, I enjoyed 'a few Drops short of a Pint', because in many ways it reminded me of my time and travels in Ireland too. Ireland can be a frustrating place, that is for certain, but those are the kinds of things you get through and look back and enjoy in retrospect. This is what Chris has captured, an essentially personal journey (in many senses of the word) in a retrospective angle. I think, having been tested time again, his character has shone through in his writing. There is a truthfulness to Chris' book that you can admire, I highly recommend trying it and discovering everything in it on offer yourself.

A. Dowding

Very well written book with a lot of humour. I found myself laughing at the craziness of the people Chris and Kerryn came across in their travels. Can't wait to experience Ireland myself!

Would recommend it to anyone interested in funny travel narratives!

The book chronicles Chris and Kerryn's time spent living and working in Ireland. It is one of the few books about the Emerald Isle that doesn't read like it was written by Ireland's national tourist board. It's an honest account of the good times and the bad and you can find out more about it at Chris's website [...]. Peter Moore, author of 'Vroom with a View'

...while not avoiding the dark side of the Irish character, Chris also explores the humour. Gregory Stanton, 'weekender'

...a full bodied travel memoir that gives the reader a taste of Irish life and history. Jennifer Scott, 'Sunshine Coast Daily'

It's the sort of travel book you can read over a few beers. Linda Muller, 'The Redland Times'

"Old ploughsocks gorge the subsoil of each sense / And I am quickened with a redolence / Of the fundamental dark unblown rose." In the face of such mastery, we cannot comment or explicate, for fear of impertinence; we can only quote, and hope that something of the maker's joy communicates itself.

This was the third book of poetry that this reviewer purchased as a youth, the first two being Eliot's Four Quartets and Rimbaud's Illuminations. This book remains a favourite of ours, fifteen years after its purchase.

The Glanmore Sonnets occupy a central position in this slender but rich volume, as is fitting; it is perhaps Heaney's masterwork. The Elegy to Robert Lowell, the "welder of English" who composed "heart-hammering blank sonnets of love for Harriet and Lizzie" is also noteworthy.

There is much about the sectarian warfare of the troubled six counties of Northern Ireland, but like Dante (who appears via epigraph and translation in this book) Heane!y can transfigure the sins of his land into glorious language that is an exemplar of poetry's redemptive potentiality. "I think our very form is bound to change ... Unless forgiveness finds its nerve and voice."

There is much here about love, nuptial, natural, sexual. At the end of "The Guttural Muse," there is a couplet of exclusion from the joyful earthiness that the poet observes: "I felt like some old pike all badged with sores / Wanting to swim in touch with soft-mouthed life."

There is warfare and loss, violence and bliss, the joys of the flesh and the crucifixion of a country. But after reading the poems in FIELD WORK, the reader will doubtless share in Seamus Heaney's faith that "the end of art is peace."

This was my first exposure to Seamus Heaney and his work (other than seeing the portly fellow with his unkempt white hair walking purposefully around campus here in Cambridge.) It is still my favorite collection of his work. Like all previous reviewers, I will not critique any particular poem, but only give the volume what can be one of my highest forms of praise: The poems have such a resonance that they have stayed with me long after putting the book down. That is a rare feat, in any artistic genre.

With "Field Work" the metaphor of "digging" with which Seamus Heaney began his first volume of poetry ("Death of a Naturalist") has become a succinct and overarching symbol of his entire literary endeavour. In that poem "digging" comes to connote the agricultural roots of his childhood (and of the Irish people) but also the search for word-fodder that his poetry enacts. "Field Work" continues to explore these concerns in a powerful collection of poems. Here the deeply personal ("Glanmore Sonnets"), primarly poetic ("Elegy") and cautiously political ("Triptych", "The Toome Road") sit comfortably alongside one another. While Heaney (as the most famous voice in contemporary Irish literature) has been repeatedly criticised for his silence on the Ulster situation, this volume shows that (as in "North") he is able to deal with its complex issues without taking sides. Always his concern is for the impartial victim (the position he himself assumes, that of the "unmolested orchid" ["Triptych 1"]) and the place he or she occupies among the combatants. "Casualty" describes a friendly but laconic pub drinker (apolitical and an acquaintance of Heaney's) who was killed by the British for defying curfew. "Triptych 1" includes the description of "Two young men with rifles on the hill" - we do not know if they are Unionists or I.R.A., they are two sides of the same coin. Heaney's continual "digging" allows him to move beneath the emotive surface of events and to unearth their common history, culture, landscape, experience. In "Field Work" the very poetry with which Heaney draws these moments is itself a tool to pare bloody and partisan politics back to its single seed, the common root of the Irish field and furrow.

Seamus Heaney, in "Field Work" makes accessible what is best about poetry and, especially, modern Irish poetry. Heaney's impact on modern poetry will certainly extend on into the centuries as he lays down his words in beautiful rythmic language, a language forgotten by many contemporaries, but coming back with many new poets. Heaney's protrait of Irish life, the "troubles", and just his love of people and the land makes this a must read not only for those who love good poetry, but wish to understand the beauty, people, politics, and history of a great people to be free. Heaney writes no bad poems, remains accessible to the occasional reader, and offers more than enough solid food for the critic and student of poetics to keep all happy for long after the read.