An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir Dec 2014/Jan 2015 www.dfmagazine.ie 40 | thoMAs MACDonAGh ÉAMonn CeAnnt Author: Shane Kenna Mary Gallagher publisher: The O'Brien Press (October 2014) www.obrien.ie isbn: 978-1847173362 978-1847172716 price: €12.99 PB / €10.99 eBook pages: 320 416 AS THE CENTENARY of the 1916 Easter Rising rapidly approaches, there has been a considerable increase in books on the subject. O'Brien Press have released two new biographies as part of their 16 Lives Series, Thomas MacDonagh written by Shane Kenna and Éamonn Ceannt written by Mary Gallagher. Both authors have drawn on a variety of sources, some of them from previously untapped private family archives, to document the lives of these two men, their families and their participation in the 1916 Easter Rising. Thomas MacDonagh, poet, playwright, theatre manager and schoolteacher is perhaps one of the most overlooked leading figures in the insurrection of 1916. During Easter week, this former academic was Commandant of the 2nd Battalion of the Irish Volunteers stationed within Jacob's Biscuit Factory just off Aungier Street. This position has been overlooked by some, as one of little importance, but the author has managed, through meticulous research, to detail the many actions that took place in and around this strategically important building. Éamonn Ceannt was a signatory of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and during Easter week he was the commandant of the 4th Battalion of the Irish Volunteers. His severely depleted battalion held the strategic South Dublin Union (now St. James's Hospital) where some of the most intense fighting took place. The actions are well described, as is Ceannt's leadership as he attempts to hold off overwhelming British forces before he is ordered to surrender by Volunteer Command. While both works document the early lives of the men and their participation in the Rising, they also examine the men's lives, who as well as being revolutionaries, were also loving husbands and fathers. Both books also look at the families and friends these men left behind as they faced the firing squads in the stone breakers yard of Kilmainham Gaol. These biographies fill important gaps in the series of sixteen lives that changed the course of Irish history and act as a poignant reminder of those men and women who struggled for Irish Independence. Po'b Author: Peter Doyle publisher: The History Press (March 2014) www.thehistorypress.ie isbn: 978-0752488110 price: €27.00 pages: 352 2014 WITNESSED THE start of a series of commemorations to mark the centenary of the First World War the supposed "war to end all wars". There are now no longer any surviving veterans of the Great War, so our memory of this epoch is perhaps necessarily made up of a collection of pastiche and images. In this beautifully illustrated work edited by Peter Doyle the cataclysmic events of this period are brought vividly to the fore by a journey through the Great War that coalesces around 100 objects, which are used to describe the course of the war. Objects allow us to reach out and touch the past and play a role in bringing to life living history. This is both a poignant and effective device as the images range from the mundane, such as a Trench Coat to the horrific German serrated bayonet chillingly nicknamed the 'Butcher Bayonet'. Also a piece of delicate 'Trench Art' in the shape of a maple leaf picture frame dedicated to a nurse by a seriously injured Canadian soldier whom she had nursed while he was recuperating from his wounds. One of the images is of the Russian Mosin-Nagant rifle captured in their tens of thousands by the Germans at the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914. A highly recommended book from militaria collector to historians. RF 16 lives series the First worlD wAr in 100 obJeCts

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