Tuesday 7 May 2013

HistoryIreland: latest issue is in the shops

The latest issue of HistoryIreland magazine hit my door mat just in time for the bank holiday weekend so I had some time, for a change, to really indulge myself with a long read.

Go to revamped HistoryIreland website
As always, there's plenty to get stuck into. Among my favorite features in this particular issue was a feature about James Hack Tuke, an English Quaker, and his schemes for assisted emigration from the west of Ireland; a look at a newly discovered autobiography of William Smith O'Brien (started when he was holed up, courtesy of the British authorities, on Maria Island, Van Diemen's Land, in 1849); a report by Joe Duffy on the evolution of his search for the names of the 30 children killed in the Easter Rising, 1916; and an analysis of Irish attitudes to slavery during the American Civil War.

The reviews – of books, film, tv and museum exhibitions – are always top reads for me, and this issue was no exception. Good to see Cumann na mBan getting a mention, too.

68-pages of absorbing reading is now available in the shops, priced €7/£6. Get your own copy!