From: DanCas1[at]aol.com
Subject: Re: Ir-D Endgame in Ireland - Semicolon;
In a message dated 6/20/01 2:30:16 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk writes:


> broadcast as 'Endgame in Ireland' in Britain and as 'Endgame in Ireland?'
in
> Northern Ireland...
>
>

Patrick A Chara:

Re: "Post-" Colonialism and Punctuation

I have never longed for a simple dot before. That has now changed. I
suspect
the real story is "Endgame in Ireland." But having some slight knowledge of
history and Ireland, I also tend to believe that a semicolon may be the best
we will do in the short run (the next half a century): "Endgame in Ireland;
."

If I had it my way (which I never do, not being Sinatra) four exclamation
marks would be bopping up and down like adolescent pogo sticks at the end of
the film's title as in "Endgame in Ireland!!!!" And yes, their color would
be
green. (And white. And orange. And pale Beckettian red for insurgency.)


Slan!!!!

Daniel Cassidy
An Leann Eireannach
New College of California
San Francisco

Email Patrick O'Sullivan


ANTHONY QUINN
Born 21 April 1915 - Chihuahua, Mexico
Deceased Rhode Island June 3, 2001

Sadness at the death of that fine actor, and belated acknowledgement. It
was a style of acting that perhaps made more sense to European directors
than to American. Quinn himself - apparently - always felt that his
'hybrid' identity, Mexican-American-Irish, meant that he was truly accepted
nowhere. The obituaries make oblique comment about Quinn's Irish family
name, and his father...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4198158,00.html

'his father, who spoke Spanish with an Irish accent, fought with Pancho
Villa.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4197774,00.html

'His father, Francisco Quinn, who spoke Spanish with an Irish brogue, fought
with the Mexican revolutionary, Pancho Villa...'

Why Francisco Quinn should attmpt to speak Spanish to an Irish shoe is not
clear. And I guess that by 'fought with Pancho Villa' is meant 'fought
alongside or on behalf of Pancho Villa...'

The story of the gringo who aids the Mexican revolutionary is familiar from
many Hollywood movies - to Mexican irritation... But I have been unable to
find out any more about this one. What is known about Anthony Quinn's
father, and has he been studied?

Coincidentally, we are off in a few weeks for a family holiday in Crete, in
the village of Stavros with its lovely beach - where the final scene of
Zorba the Greek was filmed...

Diddle-ah-dah...

P.O'S.

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Dan Cassidy thinks he jests...

Or Dan Cassidy thinks he thinks he jests...

But such things are discussed at length. Apparently, in one version of the
1993 joint declaration, the British Government declared that it was prepared
to renounce a...

'selfish strategic or economic interest' in Northern Ireland.

The Irish Cabinet, backed by Sinn Fein wanted it to renounce a ...

'selfish, strategic or economic interest'...

Gerry Adams suggested that, without the comma, the British Government would
be able to argue that it had an UNselfish interest in Northern Ireland.

As I recall, then Prime Minister Major was asked in the House of Commons if
he had any strategic or economic interest in the city of Birmingham. He
replied. Don't tempt me...

P.O'S.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From: Russell Murray
Subject: Re: Ir-D Hilltop stone to mark exodus

At 06:00 21/06/01 +0000, you wrote:


> >From Email Patrick O'Sullivan
>
>
>The following item has beren brought to our attention...
>
>I don't understand a word of it...


That's because you never did geology at university! The item in question is
from a class of objects known as "erratics" - rocks picked up by the
overwhelming power of a glacier at one place, transported many miles to an
environment where it doesn't belong, and dumped there when the power of the
glacier wanes. Sounds like pretty good metaphor for a diaspora to me. OTOH,
I admit the solstice dimension is baffling.

Russell

>
>Belfast Telegraph Newspapers Limited PUBLICATION DATE:Wednesday, 20 June
>2001
>
>
> Hilltop stone to mark exodus
>
>
>
> AN emigration stone, the only one of its kind in Ireland, will
>be
> dedicated on a hilltop in south Armagh at summer solstice
> celebrations tomorrow.
>
> The four-ton stone was deposited during the last ice age,
50,000
> years ago. It lay partially covered at Mullyard, Derrynoose,
>until
> the owner of the field decided to give it a place of supreme
> prominence on the top of the hill.
>
> In the late 1800s Ned Mone left his home at Mullyard to take a
>cow
> to Keady Fair. He never returned. After selling the animal he
>headed
> straight for the boat and ended up in America.
>
> Seven of his great-grandsons will be making a nostalgic return
>to
> join in the dedication of the stone to the memory of those who
>left
> Ireland for distant lands.
>
> They are travelling with a group of over 100 visitors who will
>be
> attending the Tommy Makem International Song Festival from
today
> until Saturday.
>
>

Dr. Russell Murray
Honorary Visiting Research Fellow
Department of Peace Studies
University of Bradford

From: Peter David Hart
To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Subject: Re: a query


Would anyone on the list have any idea if it was standard practice for
Garda stations in the 20s/30s to keep pictures of the King on their walls?
Had it been RIC practice?

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

For information...

Coincidentally, I have just bought, in a charity bookshop, a copy of an
early book by Eveline Cruckshanks, her 1979 Political Untouchables, The
Tories and the '45. She is unusual amongst English historians of the period
in knowing the French and the Jacobite archives, and in being aware of the
Irish dimensions...

P.O'S.

H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-Albion[at]h-net.msu.edu (June, 2001)

Eveline Cruickshanks. _The Glorious Revolution_. British
History in Perspective Series. New York: St. Martin's Press,
2000. 126 pp. Notes, bibliography, and index. $45.00 (cloth),
ISBN 0-312-23008-7; $17.95 (paper), ISBN 0-312-23009-5.

Reviewed for H-Albion by Matthew P. Szromba
, Department of History, Loyola
University of Chicago

The Inglorious Revolution

The latest addition to the Macmillan/St. Martin's Press _British
History in Perspective Series_ is Eveline Cruickshanks's _The
Glorious Revolution_. The series' widest appeal will be among
an informed undergraduate audience and it is especially valuable
for each volume's synthesis of newer historiographic material.
Underscoring the series' pedagogical qualities are the shorter
lengths and focused bibliographies of each volume.

In fourteen chapters and one hundred two pages of text,
Cruickshanks sets out to cover far more than the Glorious
Revolution=96-that is, she begins with the Restoration of Charles
II and concludes with the Hanoverian succession, with two
chapters dedicated to the impact of the Glorious Revolution on
Scotland and Ireland respectively. Cruickshanks's study is
particularly good at summarizing the mass of scholarship
produced shortly after the tercentenary of the Glorious
Revolution. She emphasizes much of her own work [1] and the
research of historians such as Jonathan Israel and Dale Hoak,
who seek to locate the Glorious Revolution in what they believe
is its proper Dutch and European contexts.[2] Cruickshanks
claims the European setting of the Glorious Revolution has been
"long neglected by insular British historians" who, furthermore,
have failed to recognize the substantial contributions of exiled
British Jacobites to the history of the Continent (p. 3).

Overall, Cruickshanks' book is decidedly anti-Whig. She chooses
not to dismantle piece by piece the Whig historiographic model
of the Glorious Revolution, so much as replace it wholesale by
focusing on the strategic European concerns of William of
Orange. Considered in this manner, William III was the decisive
figure in the Glorious Revolution. William's successful
invasion should be viewed as a _coup d'=E9tat_, not a grassroots
rejection of James II's rule. She maintains that "Ever since
1672 ... William had been obsessed with the French threat" to
the Dutch Netherlands (p. 45). Thus, "The Dutch States and
their European allies and supporters wished to bring English
naval and military power to bear in a war against France, not to
defend the rights of Parliament or the Church of England" (p.
25). William did not invade England by popular demand and his
sole, secret aim was to seize the English throne. The author
asks whether William's invasion was "achieved by what might be
termed the most successful confidence trick in British history?"
(p. 2). The answer is readily apparent, for Cruickshanks
concludes that the "English paid for their own invasion" (p.
40).

Cruickshanks explains the success of William's invasion by
stressing the overwhelming size and superb training of the Dutch
army, the lack of preparedness of James's forces, and the
resolve of Englishmen to avoid repeating the bloodshed of the
Civil Wars. The armed invasion of England had a significant
impact on the subsequent Revolution Settlement. She writes
that, "Although the debates in Parliament on the transfer of the
crown were relatively free and untrammelled by the
constitutional convention which prevented Members from
criticizing the King directly, the reality was that there was a
huge Dutch army in and around London, while English troops had
been sent away and those who objected were powerless" (p. 40,
see also p. 97). Parliament presented William with the
Declaration of Rights along side of the crown, not on condition
of it. Furthermore, the author reminds us that, in the
Declaration's final form, Parliament dropped many of the clauses
restricting royal prerogatives.

Cruickshanks concludes that the short-term impact of the
Glorious Revolution was "deeply divisive" (p. 97) and that in
the long run it led to far reaching instability. Its immediate
effect was to cause a bitter struggle over the royal succession,
to create irreconcilable feuds between the contending political
parties, to produce corruption in government, and to replace the
suspending and dispensing powers of the monarch with those of
Parliament. In Scotland, the post-revolutionary years witnessed
the Highland War, two famines, and the debacle of the Darien
Company. And Cruickshanks maintains that today's Irish troubles
"arose out of the Glorious Revolution" (p. 100).

The only positive developments of the revolutionary calculus
are, first, the financial revolution and its subsequent funding
of Britain's world expansion and, second, the establishment of
annual sessions of Parliament and, thus, tighter financial
control over royal spending. Even here, Cruickshanks paints a
rather gloomy picture of post-revolutionary history. "The Bill
of Rights enshrined the rights and privileges of Parliament, but
left the people as subjects with no basic rights as such.
Parliament was an unrepresentative and self-interested body" (p.
101). Readers are likely to conclude that Cruickshanks views
the Glorious Revolution as a decisively bad turning point in
British History.

=46or all of its worthy contributions, the book is marred by
factual and typographical errors. For instance, Cruickshanks
refers to Charles I as the "grandfather" of James II (p. 15) and
she includes a painfully confusing paragraph comparing the
English Bill of Rights with the American Declaration of
Independence, which she incorrectly dates as 1796. Although it
is unclear, Cruickshanks is probably referring to the American
Bill of Rights (1791) as that document protecting the individual
civil liberties of Americans "which had not been secured in
England in 1689" (p. 41).

Readers, especially undergraduate and graduate instructors,
would probably like to see more balanced coverage of Whig and
neo-Whig historiography. Occasionally, the author's
rehabilitation of James II is too energetic. She uses John
Miller's scholarship to show James's genuine moral commitment to
religious toleration, but Miller's work also demonstrates that
James's brand of toleration was, at times, curiously
authoritarian, clumsy, and hardheaded.[3] While Cruickshanks
freely admits that "In his hurry to change the political scene,
James and his agents acted not only tactlessly but
inefficiently" (p. 18), she gives perhaps too little credit to
the unquestionable alarm that James's policies created. General
readers might also benefit from more detailed discussion of
research suggesting the possibilities for Stuart absolutism in
the years leading up to the Glorious Revolution.[4] As overly
eulogistic as traditional scholarship on the Glorious Revolution
may be, John Morrill's 1991 essay, "The Sensible Revolution,"
still shows just how instructive a careful, exacting critique of
Whig historiography can be.[5]

Given Cruickshanks's thematic and space constraints, it is
unfair to expect her to produce a grand synthesis of over one
hundred years of research on the Glorious Revolution. This is
clearly not her purpose and, instead, she brings to light newer
scholarship that properly positions the events of 1688-89 in
their European context. With complementary readings, students
of later Stuart history will prosper from Cruickshanks's
thought-provoking revaluation of the Glorious Revolution.

[1]. A partial list of Cruickshanks' publications includes:
Cruickshanks, _Political Untouchables: The Tories and the =9145_
(New York: Homes and Meier, 1979); Cruickshanks, ed., _Ideology
and Conspiracy: Aspects of Jacobitism, 1689-1759_ (Edinburgh:
John Donald, 1982); Cruickshanks and Jeremy Black, eds., _The
Jacobite Challenge_ (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1988);
Cruickshanks, ed., _By Force or By Default?: The Revolution of
1688-1689_ (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1989); Cruickshanks, _The
Oglethorpes: A Jacobite Family, 1689-1760_ (London: Royal
Stuart Society, 1995); Cruickshanks and Edward Corp, eds., _The
Stuart Court in Exile and the Jacobites_ (Rio Grande: Hambledon
Press, 1995); Cruickshanks, _Religion and Royal Succession: The
Rage of Party_ (London: Royal Stuart Society, 1997);
Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley, and David Hayton, ed., _The
History of Parliament: The House of Commons, 1690-1715_ (New
York: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2002).

[2]. See especially Jonathan Israel, ed., _The Anglo-Dutch
Moment: Essays on the Glorious Revolution and its World Impact_
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991) and Dale Hoak and
Mordechai Feingold, eds., _The World of William and Mary:
Anglo-Dutch Perspectives on the Revolution of 1688-89_
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996).

[3]. See John Miller, _James II: A Study in Kingship_ (London:
Wayland Publishers, 1978) and John Miller, "James II and
Toleration," in _By Force or By Default?: The Revolution of
1688-1689_, ed. Eveline Cruickshanks (Edinburgh: John Donald,
1989): 8-27.

[4]. For examples see J.R. Western, _Monarchy and Revolution:
The English State in the 1680s_ (Totowa: Rowman and Littlefield,
1972); J.R. Jones, _The Revolution of 1688 in England_,
Revolutions in the Modern World Series (New York: W.W. Norton,
1972); Angus McInnes, "When Was the English Revolution?"
_History_ 67 (Oct 1982): 377-392; and W.A. Speck, _Reluctant
Revolutionaries: Englishmen and the Revolution of 1688_ (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1988).

[5]. John Morrill, "The Sensible Revolution," in _The Anglo
Dutch Moment: Essays on the Glorious Revolution and its World
Impact_, ed. Jonathan Israel (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1991): 73-104.

Copyright 2001 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the
redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit,
educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the
author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and
H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For other uses
contact the Reviews editorial staff: hbooks[at]mail.h-net.msu.edu.

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

For information...

P.O'S.

H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-Ethnic[at]h-net.msu.edu (June, 2001)

Babb, Valerie Melissa. _Whiteness Visible: The Meaning of
Whiteness in American Literature and Culture_. New York: New
York University Press, 1998. 227 pp. $50.00 (cloth), ISBN
0814713025, $17.95 (paper) ISBN 0814713122.

Reviewed for H-Ethnic by Jeffrey Melnick , History and
Society Division, Babson College.

Without announcing itself as such, Valerie Babb's _Whiteness
Visible_ is a primer on the study of whiteness. I have been
waiting for this book for awhile: it is a readable and brief
interdisciplinary volume on whiteness in American literature and
culture that breaks new ground while also neatly summarizing a
decade or so of work in the field. It is certainly not as
deeply researched as, say, Matthew Jacobson's _Whiteness of a
Different Color_, or Grace Elizabeth Hale's _Making Whiteness_,
nor does it have the shocking freshness of Toni Morrison's
_Playing in the Dark_ or David Roediger's _Wages of Whiteness_.
But if you can, as they say, read only one book on whiteness
this year (or get your students to read only one book) this
might be the one to choose. Like Michael Omi and Howard
Winant's _Racial Formation in the United States_, this is a book
that manages to synthesize some very rich and complex
theoretical material into a surprisingly accessible
format--thereby making the implicit argument that this is
material that should reach undergraduates and general readers
alike. It seems quite plausible to me that Babb's larger
conclusions will be clear to even those readers who have not
been through the captivity narratives, novels, religious tracts,
and etiquette books that she parses here.

The short list I just offered should give some idea of how broad
Babb's purview is. _Whiteness Visible_ is organized
chronologically, but does is not intended to provide a linear tale
of white racial formation. Rather, Babb's goal seems to be to
describe a war for whiteness that has taken place on many
fronts, for some 400 years of American history. While certain
texts and events are particularly important to her analysis
(from the Magnali Christi Americana, through Moby-Dick, the
Chicago World's Fair, Mary Antin's _The Promised Land_, the
founding of Hull House and so on), her point seems to be to
demonstrate that whiteness could never have been established as
a cherished and powerful racial identity position (with all the
requisite institutional support) if it had not been articulated,
defended, and developed along many different lines.

Here is the greatest value of Babb's work. Rather than focusing
on one major social practice (say, Blackface minstrelsy) or even
one relatively large body of texts (the classic American
literature Toni Morrison sets her sights on), Babb wants to at
least glance at the whole culture and its history. Of course
this forces Babb to offer up readings that can be superficial at
times; her analysis of Mary Antin's memoir, for instance, never
satisfactorily explains the tangled web formed by immigration,
nationalism, and racialization. But where else can you find a
book that reads etiquette manuals, Jane Addams's Hull House, and
colonial-era maps all as agents of whiteness?

Agency is the crux of all this. The only major problem with
Babb's approach, as I understand it, is that she cannot
demonstrate cause and effect in any of her particular case
studies. That is, while it is believable that settlement houses
were somehow in the business not only of Americanizing
immigrants, but also whitening them, Babb cannot demonstrate
this in any convincing detail. Her thesis, of course,
anticipates and--to some degree--answers that criticism. The
aim of her book is to demonstrate how many American institutions
have been involved in the process of what she calls
"monoracializing." This monoracializing, as she sees it, could
only work if its agents were more or less invisible. Here is
the leap of faith that defines the book: rather than focusing on
the very public, very explicit dramas of white racial formation
that Eric Lott found in minstrelsy and Grace Hale found in
lynching, Babb argues (by implication anyway) that the real
action took place in much less dramatic fashion.

As such, one has to take on faith that behind Babb's relatively
few case studies are dozens more, just ripe for the picking. I
think there are, but readers would have been well served by a
more fully historicized introduction (or perhaps a "subjects for
further research" epilogue) to the book. In her introduction
Babb describes a course she taught on white male authors that
received a great deal of media scrutiny (and I remember the
amazed coverage in some papers). It would have been especially
helpful if she had included a pedagogical chapter that could
have taken the form of an annotated syllabus. As it stands, the
book offers up Cotton Mather and Herman Melville and not much
else in the way of white male authors.

But these are quibbles. Babb is a sensitive and convincing
reader of texts, a scholar who sees significant cultural
activity taking place where many of us neglect to look, and a
writer who brings sophisticated insights to light in a cogent
and convincing way. Whiteness Visible is too valuable to get
lost in the recent storm of publications on whiteness.

Copyright 2001 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the
redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit,
educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the
author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and
H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For other uses
contact the Reviews editorial staff: hbooks[at]mail.h-net.msu.edu.

Forwarded for information...


Subject: SYMPOSIUM: Historians on Sport (Oct. 2001)

From: Michael J Cronin

Historians on Sport: A one day symposium to be hosted by the International
Centre for Sports History and Culture, De Montfort University Leicester, 27
October 2001.

In this one day symposium leading historians of modern Britain look at how
sport can throw light upon the wider history of recreation, class,
masculinity and identity. The day, organised by Professor Richard Holt, will
explore how the discipline of sports history has impacted on the wider
subject. The plenary speakers will present papers that seek to explore the
value of recent historical work which has explored the history of sport, and
will assess the potential future health of the subject and its ongoing
contribution to our understanding of the past. Each plenary session will
include a lengthy period for discussion from the floor, and the day will
conclude with an assessment of the days proceedings by leading figures in
the field. The symposium is open to all, and is a must for those interested
in understanding and shaping many of the contemporary historiographical
debates within this exciting and challenging area of historical research.

Confirmed speakers will include Professor Brian Harrison (Oxford
University), Professor Ross McKibbin (Oxford University) Professor Robert
Tombs (Cambridge University) and Professor Christiane Eisenberg (Humboldt
University Berlin).

The cost of the day, including lunch and refreshments, will be £18 (£12 for
students and postgraduates). To receive a registration form and further
details, please contact Dr Mike Cronin on 0116-2577324, e-mail:
mjcronin[at]dmu.ac.uk or write to: Mike Cronin, The International Centre for
Sports History and Culture, De Montfort University, Clephan Building,
Leicester, LE1 9BH, UK.

From: Elizabeth Malcolm
Subject: Garda/RIC: Portraits of Monarch


For Peter Hart,

I have a number of late 19th-century illustrations of the interiors
of RIC barracks and in none is a portrait of the monarch shown. My
recollection, from reading RIC regulations - and everything about the
RIC was highly regulated - is that only official notices, for
instance circulars from the inspector general, were permitted to be
put up in barracks.

As for the Guards, I checked Liam McNiffe's book, which contains a
number of photographs of the interiors of the Phoenix Park Depot and
of barracks during the 1920s and 1930s. In all the walls look awfully
bare - which would certainly be in keeping with RIC practice.

Hope this helps Peter.

Elizabeth


Professor Elizabeth Malcolm Tel: +61-3-8344 3924
Chair of Irish Studies FAX: +61-3-8344 7894
Department of History Email: e.malcolm[at]unimelb.edu.au
University of Melbourne
Parkville, Victoria, 3010
AUSTRALIA

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

For Beckett fans, including me...

The Beckett on Film season begins here in Britain, this evening on Channel 4
television - after outings elsewhere... Catastrophe, directed by David
Mamet, has Harold Pinter, Rebecca Pidgeon and John Gielgud (odd, sad,
Beckettian, that the final role for that sonorous, fluting voice should be
non-speaking...) Rockaby, directed by Richard Eyre, stars Penelope Wilton.

I have not seen much comment on earlier showings of these Beckett films. Do
they work? Better than nothing?

Background
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/features/2000/0513/fea1.htm

http://www.rte.ie/ace/2001/0201/beckett.html

http://www.dynamo.ie/beckettonfilm/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/story/0,3604,434155,00.html

P.O'S.

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

I have now had an opportunity to look at the recent editions of Patrick
O'Farrell, The Irish in Australia, and have had an explanatory message from
Patrick O'Farrell himself...

The latest edition is the third edition, 2000, and is published by the
University of New South Wales Press
ISBN 0 8640 635 X
www.unswpress.com.au

The new edition is also being published in the USA by
University of Notre Dame Press
http://www.nd.edu/~undpress/

and in Ireland by
Cork University Press
http://www.ucc.ie/corkunip/
(Though I have had trouble with this address, and all the UCC addresses,
recently... That time of year, perhaps...)

Apparently Notre Dame and Cork have gone with a revamped version of the old
cover, with the Angela's Ashes type Irish family... UNSW wanted something
'more Australian' and have gone for the statue of Cardinal Moran, with
Sydney Tower in the background.

BUT there are still floating around copies of the second edition - often at
'SALE' prices. I noticed this at the Notre Dame web site.

Note the number of pages - the second edition has 335 numbered pages, which
(as publishers count pages) will give a descriptive number of something like
342 pages.

The new third edition has 363 numbered pages (or 370 pages). There is a new
chapter, Chapter 8, from p 311 onwards, 'Being Irish in Australia' - which
will be of interest because it includes O'Farrell's reflections on Irish
attempts to 'be ethnic' in Australia. O'Farrell does not say this but there
are readymade comparisons to be made with recent 'Irish identities' in other
parts of the world.

It is worth noting that all editions of O'Farrell contain that extended
meditation on Irish-Australian/Irish-American contrasts which is so much a
feature of Irish-Australian writing... And so singularly not a feature of
Irish-American writing.

Background info...

O'Farrell Collection
National Library of Australia
http://www.nla.gov.au/ntwkpubs/gw/35/35.html#Irish

Example of how history (or a historian) is used im shaping a national
identity...
http://www.theage.com.au/news/2001/01/09/FFXTRCO0PHC.html

P.O'S.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From: McCaffrey
Subject: Re: Ir-D O'Farrell, The Irish in Australia

Paddy,
Thanks for this information. As you might remember I had asked some
questions
about this edition a few months ago. I just got back from Ireland on Monday
and
went looking there for the new edition from Cork Press but it was not to be
found anywhere. I was told that Cork listed it as published in Dec. 2000
but so
far no bookseller has been able to get a copy. Hodges and Figgis told me
that
there appears to be a delay in publication in spite of the date. I am going
to
contact Cork directly and see what the problem is.
Carmel McC

irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk wrote:

> >From Email Patrick O'Sullivan
>
> I have now had an opportunity to look at the recent editions of Patrick
> O'Farrell, The Irish in Australia, and have had an explanatory message
from
> Patrick O'Farrell himself...
>
> The latest edition is the third edition, 2000, and is published by the
> University of New South Wales Press
> ISBN 0 8640 635 X
> www.unswpress.com.au
>
> The new edition is also being published in the USA by
> University of Notre Dame Press
> http://www.nd.edu/~undpress/
>
> and in Ireland by
> Cork University Press
> http://www.ucc.ie/corkunip/
> (Though I have had trouble with this address, and all the UCC addresses,
> recently... That time of year, perhaps...)
>
> Apparently Notre Dame and Cork have gone with a revamped version of the
old
> cover, with the Angela's Ashes type Irish family... UNSW wanted something
> 'more Australian' and have gone for the statue of Cardinal Moran, with
> Sydney Tower in the background.
>
> BUT there are still floating around copies of the second edition - often
at
> 'SALE' prices. I noticed this at the Notre Dame web site.
>
> Note the number of pages - the second edition has 335 numbered pages,
which
> (as publishers count pages) will give a descriptive number of something
like
> 342 pages.
>
> The new third edition has 363 numbered pages (or 370 pages). There is a
new
> chapter, Chapter 8, from p 311 onwards, 'Being Irish in Australia' - which
> will be of interest because it includes O'Farrell's reflections on Irish
> attempts to 'be ethnic' in Australia. O'Farrell does not say this but
there
> are readymade comparisons to be made with recent 'Irish identities' in
other
> parts of the world.
>
> It is worth noting that all editions of O'Farrell contain that extended
> meditation on Irish-Australian/Irish-American contrasts which is so much a
> feature of Irish-Australian writing... And so singularly not a feature of
> Irish-American writing.
>
> Background info...
>
> O'Farrell Collection
> National Library of Australia
> http://www.nla.gov.au/ntwkpubs/gw/35/35.html#Irish
>
> Example of how history (or a historian) is used im shaping a national
> identity...
> http://www.theage.com.au/news/2001/01/09/FFXTRCO0PHC.html
>
> P.O'S.
>
> --
> Patrick O'Sullivan
> Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit
>
> Email Patrick O'Sullivan
> Email Patrick O'Sullivan
>
> Irish-Diaspora list
> Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
> Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net
>
> Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
> Fax International +44 870 284 1580
>
> Irish Diaspora Research Unit
> Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
> University of Bradford
> Bradford BD7 1DP
> Yorkshire
> England

From: Cymru66[at]aol.com
Subject: Books

Dear Paddy,
Just a couple of things re availability of scholarly books here in the
USA.
I was able to get a copy of Vol. 5 of IWW - Religion and Identity - from
Borders bookstore - it took only a week and the cost was moderate i.e. $
22.95 plus a couple of dollars tax ( variable according to the State you
live
in) for the cloth edition. Amazon wanted $80 plus delivery charges without
specifying cloth or hardback. So, go to bookstores or the publisher.
I've just received notification that Barbara Mary Walsh's new book Roman
Catholic Nuns in England and Wales; a social History. is now available ( in
terms of actually getting it ! ) from ( for 'UK and the Rest of the World'),
Northumberland House, Northumberland Rd., Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland.
For
those of us in North America ( not, obviously, part of the 'rest of the
world' - how did we become so special? ) the address is ISBS 5824 NE Hassalo
Street, Portland, Oregon, OR 97213 3644).
Best,
John Hickey

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

It is worth noting that there is material about the Beckett on Film
television season on Channel 4 Web site.

The material is oddly hard to find.

From this Web site...

http://www.channel4.com/plus/

There is a route to this...

http://www.channel4.com/plus/beckett/index.html

Then look for the numbers along the TOP of the Beckett on Film logo. Click
on a number to go to information about each individual film...

I am much enjoying the films. There is a little bit of 'better than
nothing...' The short pieces, especially, you hardly ever get to see done -
and here they are done by really good people, thoughtfully. In the short
pieces Beckett is allowed the luxury of not having to stretch an idea beyond
its limits - we see too many pieces of drama where there really aren't
enough ideas to fill an hour, or the two hours or so that commercial theatre
demands.

Lots of quibbles, of course. Waiting for Godot, with its mix of music hall
and philosophy, really needs an audience - to make the actors find the
(many) laughs. But a brilliant set.

Catastrophe - Pinter, a very mannered actor, at his most mannered. The
Assistant's notebook is too small. The two stars, in non-speaking roles,
were John Gielgud and Wilton's Music Hall (a shrine for lovers of London
theatre...)

But trivial quibbles...

One of the reviewers recalled the story of Pinter, directing one of his own
plays, saying, 'The author's intentions are not revealed to us at this
point...'

On a train of thought, as an aside, under one of my other hats... Yorkshire
Playwrights and Amnesty International recently held a joint conference,
Writers in Chains - about dramatists and censorship. See
www.yorkshireplaywrights.com

P.O'S.

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

A Happy Fourth of July to all our USA members...

It has been a quiet week on the Irish-Diaspora list.

Like all the scholarly lists the Ir-D list tends to respond to the ebbs and
flows of the (northern hemisphere's) academic calendar. The academics tell
me they are busy 'marking', whatever that means... And soon the (northern
hemisphere's) summer holiday will begin.

Here - unusually for me - I have been knocked off my perch by hay fever
(seasonal allergic rhinitis, as we must learn to call it). Very severe this
year - one explanation is... foot and mouth disease... All those animals
that would have been eating grass are dead. So, more pollen... More
flowers, more insects, more birds.

One friend suggested honey for my hay fever. I have accordingly stuffed
honey up my nose, and it seems to help. Though it does attract wasps.

Here, we have also been cranking up a new computer, dealing with the usual
problems of persuading a new computer to run old software, and keep our
routes open, backwards and forwards. This new computer should keep us in
business for a few more years - and, in fact, most of the Ir-D work will
still be done on the old one, since that is all about email...

I am now going back over the files for the recent past, just to see if there
is anything new of relevance to Ir-D that we might have missed.

P.O'S.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Patricia Walls has brought the following call for research proposals to our
attention...

I won't give the full research briefs here - but the NHS Executive Research
and Development Directorate Calls for Proposals on the Health of London's
population, includes a section on 'Disentangling the relationships between
ethnicity, other-related health factors and health' Paddy Walls points out
that the detail includes mention of WHITE groups and therefore may be an
opportunity for researchers of Irish health to get some funding (for a
change)... see below...

P.O'S.




Contact information

You are invited to submit a proposal for this project by 12 Midday Thursday
9th August 2001.

For further information please contact Emma Pendleton on Tel. 020 7725 5571
or E-mail. emma.pendleton[at]doh.gsi.gov.uk


NHS Executive London
Research and Development Directorate

To evaluate intervention schemes designed to improve access to health
services in London for black and minority ethnic groups.

Introduction

London?s Health is a relatively new component of the London Regional Office
R&D programme. A programme advisory group identified six priority areas for
research for London one of which was ?Disentangling the relationship between
ethnicity and other health-related factors?.

The original advisory group noted that:

This work is of particular importance to Londoners given the level of ethnic
diversity and extent of inequalities, and the changing age profile of ethnic
communities across London.

The commissioning group set up to recommend research priorities within this
area identified the following topic, which ranked as one of the three most
important areas.

To evaluate intervention schemes designed to improve access to health
services in London for black and minority ethnic groups.

London is an ethnically diverse city and this has important implications for
the health service. Almost half of all the UK?s minority ethnic population
live in London as well as a number of important ?white? minority groups. The
1991 Census recorded over 20 per cent of London?s population as being from
black and minority ethnic groups.1 2

Acheson (1998) identified the importance of considering health and ethnicity
in the report of the Inquiry into Inequalities in Health.3

It has been recognised that inequalities in heath need to be tackled and
this features in both ?Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation?4 and ?The NHS
Plan?5.

In February 2001 eleven Taskforce groups were launched to both develop and
put into place plans and policies for key areas of the NHS. One of these is
specifically focusing on the reduction of inequalities and promotion of good
health. An area this Taskforce wants to explore is inequalities within
black and minority ethnic groups.6

NOTES
1 The Health of Londoners Project (1998) The Health of Londoners ? A public
health report for London
2 The Health of Londoners Project (March 2000) Developing health assessment
for black and minority ethnic groups ? Analysing routine health information
(Summary)
3 Acheson Report (1998) Inquiry into inequalities in health implications for
London. The Stationary Office
4 Secretary of State for Health 1999 Saving Lives Our Healthier Nation
London: The Stationary Office
5 Department of Health (2000) The NHS Plan ? Modernising Health and social
care
6 NHS Executive London (Feb 2001) Transforming London?s NHS ? Taskforces
Launched. Transforming London?s NHS newsletter (Issue 4)


Research Specification

It is thought that there is a wealth of evidence addressing ethnicity and
access to health services. These generally focus on identifying barriers to
access. Less is known about interventions to overcome these barriers and if
they improve access to health services.

The London Regional Office would like to commission research to address the
following:

To evaluate intervention schemes designed to improve access to health
services in London for black and minority ethnic groups.

In relation to these intervention schemes we would specifically like to
commission research in the areas of mental health, cardiovascular disease
and or diabetes.

The following key objectives should be addressed:

1. To identify current intervention schemes aimed at increasing access to
health services in London for black and minority ethnic groups at the
following service levels:

(a) Primary care
(b) Referral from primary care to secondary care
(c) Referral from primary / secondary care to specialist care services

2. To describe and evaluate one or more of the intervention schemes
identified. Including issues such as:

- - How did the intervention scheme arise? A critical evaluation of work which
lead to the intervention
- - How does the intervention scheme intend to improve access to health
services?
- - Has the intervention scheme increased access to care? How and to what
extent has it increased access to care? The research should measure
quantifiable improvements
- - Are there barriers to the intervention scheme being put into practice?

3. To provide recommendations on how such interventions could be applied
across health services in London to improve access to care.


Requirements

Researchers from outside London are eligible to apply but the research must
be undertaken within the London region.

This research should build on existing literature and knowledge in this
field. (Two systematic reviews have recently been completed in the area of
ethnicity and access to health care services and are available upon request
from the London Regional R&D Office.) However we envisage that the work we
commission will mainly be primary research.

Research projects should address all of the questions in the specification
at one or more of the service levels stated.

Projects up to two years duration will be considered. The funding available
is in the region of £70,000.

You are invited to submit a proposal for this project by 12 Midday Thursday
9th August 2001.

For further information please contact Emma Pendleton on Tel. 020 7725 5571
or E-mail. emma.pendleton[at]doh.gsi.gov.uk


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan



- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Subject: Ir-D Stage Irish 2


From: "Anne-Maree Whitaker"
To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Ir-D Stage Irish

Which reminds me, Paddy, what ever happened to the Easter competition??

Anne-Maree Whitaker


Anne-Maree,

Sorry to have ignored your message...

I think secretly maybe I was hoping this matter would quietly drop.

We have quite a few new members, who do not know about our annual St.
Patrick's Day Irish-Diaspora list Competition...

The nature of the Competition is easier to demonstrate than explain...

Last year, 2000, the theme of the Competition was 'Unlikely Monuments of the
Irish-Diaspora'. And the Competition was a success in that... we had a
number of entries, which abided by the rules, a winner (Sarah Morgan,
London), and a distinguished runner-up (Marion Casey, New York).

This year, 2001, the theme of the competition was 'HOMAGE TO MACKMORRICE...
'Who talkes of my Nation?'

For new members I have distributed, as a separate email, the original
rules...

This competiotion was a (mitigated) disaster. We had many declarations of
interest, but no entries. So we delayed, and made it an Easter Competition.

By the closing date we had received only one entry that actually met the
requirements of the Competition.

Unfortunately that one entry was submitted by one of the judges, my friend
and colleague, John Allcock - an expert on Balkan history and politics.

After a lot of humming and hawing we decided that entries from judges must
be inadmissable.

But this one entry does show that the rules were NOT entirely
incomprehensible...

Also, John's entry is an evil thing...

It will be seen that marks would be given for...

'1. misdirected erudition,
2. linguistic ingenuity,
3. ghastly plausibility,
4. and sheer bloodymindedness.'

His entry has them all, but especially it has the ghastly plausibility...

I am genuinely worried about allowing this wicked piece of nonsense out into
the public domain...

P.O'S.

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

A number of Ir-D members are developing work which falls broadly within the
history of medicine...

I thought that the following announcement might be of interest...

P.O'S.

From: Ranes C Chakravorty

I am compiling the 2002 volume of the Research in Progress on behalf of the
American Association of History of Medicine. AAHM members will receive the
form with the next issue of the newsletter. Nonmembers desiring inclusion
should send me an email for the form. Items should relate to the history
of Medicine and aimed for publication in the English language. Please do
not include material already published. I need to receive the completed
forms by mail by November 30, 2001. Please pass the message on to
colleagues who might be interested.

Ran=E8s Chakravorty MAEd MD
5049 Cherokee Hills DriveSalem, VA 24153-5848

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan


There were a number of items of interest in

BOOKVIEW IRELAND
Editor: Pauline Ferrie
June, 2001
Issue No.71

This monthly supplement to the Irish Emigrant reviews books recently
published in Ireland, and those published overseas which have an Irish
theme. A searchable database of all books reviewed over the last
six years is now available at http://www.bookviewireland.ie>

I have, with the permission of the Irish Emigrant team, pasted in below, 6
recent notices...

On TO HELL OR BARBADOS by SEAN O'CALLAGHAN - I think it right to report that
there has already been some discussion, behind the scenes of the Ir-D list,
questioning the quality of the scholarship and research that went into this
volume. I have just bought a copy, but have not yet read it.

P.O'S.


YEATS IS DEAD - ed. JOSEPH O'CONNOR
- - If you bear in mind the maxim that a camel is a horse designed by a
committee, it will give you some idea of the eccentric shape taken by
this book, which has been written by a total of fifteen different
Irish authors. The opening chapter is by Roddy Doyle and he sets the
scene for murder and intrigue involving the gardai and a recluse
living in the Dublin mountains. Each of the other writers then takes
up the baton to continue the narrative, introducing murder upon
murder, romantic love and ministerial lust, a missing manuscript and
a secret formula. With such a variety of contributors it is little
wonder that we meet an eclectic range of characters as the narrative
progresses, some sinister, some comic and some downright weird.
Notable among these is Marian Keyes' creation, Mickey McManus, the
ginger-haired Irishman who yearns to be black, who feels that
"everything in his miserable, inadequate life would be somehow okay
if he were big and shiny and graceful and ebony". In his chapter,
writer and comedian Owen O'Neill allows Mickey to realise his
ambition with a visit to a theatrical supplies shop, but by the time
Pauline McLynn gets her hands on Mickey, in Chapter 11, not only does
he revert to being a Caucasian, he also falls instantly in love with
the son of the man murdered in Chapter One. One of the more
arresting scenes is that described by McLynn and taken up by
playwright Charlie O'Neill in the following chapter. Here we are
taken to a municipal dump where two of the characters are searching
for part of the missing manuscript. A surreal air surrounds the
scene of vermin and malodorous filth presided over by dump supervisor
Dusty Conmee, who can pinpoint the location of a bag of rubbish given
its provenance and the identity of the garbage collector.

While "Yeats is Dead" is no great work of literature, it is fun, and
what comes across very strongly is that the contributors found it
great fun to write. The other writers involved include Conor
McPherson, Gene Kerrigan, Gina Moxley, Anthony Cronin, Hugo Hamilton,
Joseph O'Connor, Tom Humphries, Donal O'Kelly and Gerard Stembridge,
and at least IR1 from the sale of each book will be paid to Amnesty
International. (Jonathan Cape, ISBN 0-224-06175-5, pp298, IR8.99)

THE IRISH FAMINE, A DOCUMENTARY by COLM TOIBIN AND DIARMAID FERRITER
- - This examination of the Famine comprises an essay by writer Colm
Toibin which is complemented by a selection of quotations and
extracts from documents contributed by historian Diarmaid Ferriter.
Colm Toibin's essay looks at the way in which the Famine has been
dealt with by historians over the intervening 150 years and
highlights the contrast between the wealth of information about the
administration of famine relief with the relative lack of information
about the people most affected, those who had to resort to government
relief. He discusses the ways in which disparate writers and
historians have treated the subject, citing such as John Mitchel who
unequivocally placed the blame on England, while the English writer
Thomas Carlyle described the Irish as "the sorest evil this country
has to strive with". There was a belief among politicians that the
Famine was a God-given opportunity to solve the Irish question.
Charles Trevelyan, Assistant Secretary to the Treasury, asserted that
"Supreme Wisdom has educed permanent good out of transient evil", and
this was used to justify inaction on the part of the government. In
the same vein Lord Lansdowne's agent, W.S. Trench, expressed the hope
that "the emigration will?give us room to become civilized". The
author considers a number of books on the subject of the Famine and
is quick to commend two comparatively recent publications, "Oceans of
Consolation" by David Fitzpatrick and Robert James Scally's "The End
of Hidden Ireland".

In the second part of the book we turn to the actual documents
produced during the Famine years which include instructions on how
best to cook diseased potatoes, a letter from Friar Theobald Matthew
to Charles Trevelyan condemning the practice of labourers being paid
their wages in public houses, and a report from a member of a relief
committee on the conditions in his area of Co. Roscommon. Sets of
statistics give an idea of the number of deaths each year of the
Famine, its effect on crime figures, and the numbers who emigrated
over a seventy-year period from 1851 to 1921. One of the most
interesting sections is that giving extracts from interviews carried
out for the Folklore Commission in the 1930s and 1940s, and one in
particular seems to offer a reason for the perceived national amnesia
in relation to the Famine. In Cathal Poirtear's "Famine Echoes", Ned
Buckley of County Cork relates how more prosperous farmers would buy
up their neighbours' farms by paying the rent arrears to the
landlord. He concludes with the statement, "Several people would be
glad if the Famine times were altogether forgotten so that the cruel
doings of their forbears would not be again renewed and talked about
by neighbours". The two sections of the book present us with a
variety of responses to the hungry years of the mid-19th century and
provide a thought-provoking overview of the reaction of both
historian and layperson over the intervening years.
(Profile Books, ISBN 1-86197-249-0, pp214, IR15.00)

THE DUBLIN METROPOLITAN POLICE by JIM HERLIHY
- - Complementing his earlier work on the Royal Irish Constabulary and
the Dublin Metropolitan Police, Jim Herlihy has compiled an
alphabetical list of all members of the latter force, both officers
and men, from the year of its foundation in 1836 to its amalgamation
with the Garda Siochana in 1925. In each case the registration
number is included, as are the year of birth and the place of origin
of each member of the force, while those killed in action have their
dates of death recorded. For anyone who is researching an ancestor
believed to be a member of the police force this bound volume will
prove invaluable, and Jim Herlihy has given further assistance with a
list of addresses which will be of use in such a search.
(Four Courts Press, ISBN 1-85182-601-7, pp270, IR23.59)

TANS, TERROR AND TROUBLES by T. RYLE DWYER
- - T. Ryle Dwyer's book sets out to contradict the statement by General
Eoin O'Duffy in 1933, that "Kerry's entire record in the Black and
Tan struggle consisted in shooting an unfortunate soldier the day of
the Truce". The author attributes the somewhat tarnished reputation
of his county between the years 1913 and 1923 to a reluctance to
discuss the various stages of the conflict on the part of those most
involved, whether due to trauma or a desire to move on. However the
chronological list of events with which the author opens the book,
the attacks, killings and reprisals, give the lie to O'Duffy's
statement. While it has been accepted that de Valera was the last
commandant to surrender in the 1916 Rising, this honour in truth goes
to a Kerryman, Thomas Ashe, who later died on hunger strike while in
prison. Another claim made by the Kingdom is that the first military
engagement of the War of Independence took place, not at Soloheadbeg
in Co. Tipperary, but in Gortatlea when the barracks was attacked in
April 1918. A seemingly never-ending series of attacks and reprisals
ensued, with casualties on both sides, though it has to be said that
the account of the attack on the RIC barracks in Scartaglin presents
a wonderful Keystone Cops-type picture. Having succeeded in setting
the building alight, the IRA activists hurled grenades at the
beleaguered members of the garrison. Unfortunately for their plans
one of the grenades punctured a water tank at one corner of the roof
and the resultant flow of water effectively doused the fire. The
better known events which took place in Kerry during this period,
including the arrival of Sir Roger Casement and the atrocity at
Ballyseedy, are given prominence and there can be little doubt that
the people of Kerry were active in the country's fight for
independence, though it is also true that some of the worst
atrocities of the Civil War took place within the county.
(Mercier, ISBN 1-85635-353-2, pp400, IR9.99)

TO HELL OR BARBADOS by SEAN O'CALLAGHAN
- - Despite the title of Sean O'Callaghan's book, the contents cover much
more than one Caribbean island, chronicling as he does the
transportation of Irish men, women and children to a number of
different islands and also to the tobacco fields of Virginia. The
author traces in a lucid fashion the beginnings of Cromwell's
'solution' to the Irish problem, which saw both indentured servants
and virtual slaves carried to Barbados under atrocious circumstances
which pre-dated the Coffin ships of the Famine by some two hundred
years. It is noted that the Irish were used not only as an unpaid
and expendable labour force, but were later offered their freedom
when it became necessary to populate recent colonial acquisitions
such as Jamaica and Montserrat. Perhaps the most poignant legacy of
this mass transportation movement is the group of Jamaicans known as
Redlegs, a mixed race section of the population held in disrespect by
everyone else and with a reputation for drunkenness and arrogance.
Indeed the author, who died as his book was going to press, closes
the final chapter with a plea that the Irish people will come
together to ease the plight of these descendants of a beleaguered
race. (Brandon, ISBN 0-86322-287-0, pp240, IR7.99)

WOMEN IN GALWAY JAIL by GERALDINE CURTIN
- - Every now and then a book comes along which at first glance seems to
take an unusual topic, but then one wonders why it has never been
done before. "The Women of Galway Jail" is one such book. Geraldine
Curtin, who has an MA in History and Local Studies from the
University of Limerick and is currently working in NUI Galway, is the
author of this fascinating book which describes the different crimes
for which women were sentenced in the late 19th century. Most were
alcohol-related, with many women purposely committing crimes with the
intention of being thrown in prison where they were more likely to be
better fed than if they had to fend for themselves. Age was no
discriminator when it came to serving time, with the youngest inmate
being nine and the oldest ninety-four. The nine-year-old was
sentenced to three months for "larceny of money", while the
ninety-four-year-old was released early due to ill health. The book
examines the causes and effects of female criminal activity in Galway
towards the end of the 19th century, with photographs and the
personal stories of some of the inmates giving it a human dimension.
(Arlen House, ISBN 1-903631-12-2, pp122, IR12.50)
Review by Donal Ferrie

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

For information, the original message giving the rules of...

Irish-Diaspora list's traditional St. Patrick's Day Competition...

The theme of our Competition this year, 2001, is

HOMAGE TO MACKMORRICE...
'Who talkes of my Nation?'

Competitors are invited to to take a text,
ANY text,
a short poem or a short piece of prose,
in ANY language,
and show...

- - either through internal evidence,
or in-depth research,
or both -

that this text disguises...

EITHER a vicious attack on the Irish
OR secret praise of the Irish.
But not both.

I hope that is clear.

Marks will be given for...

1. misdirected erudition,
2. linguistic ingenuity,
3. ghastly plausibility,
4. and sheer bloodymindedness.

NOW, this is the bit that people always seem to have trouble with...

Entries should be sent as an email to this special St. Patrick's Day
Competition address


The sending of that email to that competition address will be taken
as confirmation that the email is a Competition entry,
and as permission to share choice entries with the wider Irish-Diaspora
list.

All members of the Irish-Diaspora list - INCLUDING past prize winners - can
submit entries.

Sometimes we get entries from people who are not members of the
Irish-Diaspora list - such entries will be considered only if they are
REALLY funny.

Decisions of the Competition Committee are final.

The closing date for Competition entries is Monday, March 26, 2001.

There will be prizes.

Good luck, everyone. And good scholarship.

P.O'S.

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England