An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 45 The Easter Rebellion 1916, An Illustrated History author: Conor McNamara Publisher: The Collins Press (December 2015) www.collinspress.ie iSbn: 9781848892590 Price: €19.99 Pages: 266 They say, "A picture paints a thousand words" and this photographic book of the history of the Easter Rebellion 1916 does that sentiment justice. The accompanying text gives an overview of the events leading up to the Rising/Rebellion, Home Rule crisis, the First World War and the formation of both the Ulster Volunteers, the Irish Volunteers and of the Rising/Rebellion itself. One fine example is a photograph of a well-defined double page shot at the graveside of O'Donovan Rossa where Pearse gives his famous oration, "That Ireland Unfree Shall Never Be at Peace". Another photograph taken from Nelsons Pillar (where the Spire stands today), shows the amount of material destruction on both sides of the now O'Connell street. In the af termath of the Easter Rebellion of 1916, a generation of extraordinary revolutionaries lef t behind a wealth of photographs, posters, sketches and car toons as well as eyewitness accounts, letters and personal notebooks. We can read the leaders final letters to their loved ones in the hours before their execution which gives an immediacy and intimacy to these iconic times. Leafing through the pages of this book of bombed out buildings af ter all the fighting that took place in 1916 Dublin it really came to life. This book is well wor th the investment for the people who are interested in the Irish fight for Independence captured in photographs, illustrations and the written word. SS author: Tim Pat Coogan Publisher: Head of Zeus (October 2015) http://headofzeus.com/ iSbn: 978-1784080112 Price: €24.50 H/B Pages: 336 Tim Pat Coogan is an Irish writer, broadcaster and columnist whose works include biographies of Éamon De Valera, Michael Collins and 'The IRA', His works examine a lot of the Nationalist, Republican and earlier Independence movement of the 20th century often in great depth and detail and I personally have found that he writes in an accessible and engaging style that has brought many of the pivotal moments of Irish history to life. From the early days of the Civil rights movement in the North through the dark days of the Troubles and right up to modern Irish history. I was also looking forward to reading this book because of the public spat been the eminent Professor of Modern Irish History at UCD, Diarmuid Ferriter who was fairly scathing in his review of Mr Coogans work in the Irish Times on Saturday 21st November 2015: "By page 20 of this truly dreadful book Tim Pat Coogan has puffed himself up to the extent that he has an important announcement to make". Mr Ferriter reaches a conclusion that Mr Coogan "has not read up on Irish history…" You can see why my interest was piqued, far be it for me to take a position opposite to Mr Ferriter but on the whole, it is well worth a read - even though I wanted to like it more than I did. There is a lot of information and quotes trust at you, but you can see the seeds of a lot of our future trouble been sown. I agree it is a great pity that there are some historical inaccuracies with mismatched dates and some generalisations that would be woeful if produced by a history professor. Read it with that in mind and if nothing else use the highlighted errors as pointed out by worthy scholars to do a little digging into the real facts behind this moment of revolution! I look forward to reading Prof. Ferriters own book A Nation and Not a Rabble: The Irish Revolution 1913-1923 as soon as I can. Rdeb 1916: The Mornings After The Burgoyne Diaries: The First Winter at Ypres with the Royal Irish Rifles author: Gerald Achilles Burgoyne Publisher: Pen and Sword Books (January 2016) www. pen-and-sword.co.uk iSbn: 978-1473827585 Price: €25.80 Pages: 249 This book is compiled from the original diary entries of Gerald Achilles Burgoyne, an officer in the Royal Irish Rifles, written while serving in the front line trenches at Ypres during the Great War in 1914-1915. Originally printed in 1985, this edition is released for the centenary commemorations of the Great War. The book contains many maps, illustrations and sketches originally drawn by the author. It was the author's daughter Claudia that brought the diaries to the fore after she discovered them in an old trunk filled with her parent's personal effects. This personal account written on notepaper while under great stress, and enemy barrages in his mud filled trench, were sent home almost daily to his wife back in England. The book gives a real daily view of what life was like at the front lines of what was known as the 'bloodiest war to end all wars'. While the cold weather and the modern weaponry of the 20th century took their toll on lives on both sides, Burgoyne kept the diary pages constant from November 1914 until there sudden stop in May 1915, when he was wounded and returned England. Burgoyne is very outspoken about his personnel opinions on the war effort, and of his men, who he openly admits to hitting them to instil discipline, and naming them. This honest account is at times to 'real' to read as the author probably didn't envisage they would be printed as a memoire some 70-years later. WF

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