Two Lives of St Brigid; Warriors, Rebels & Saints; Homage: A Salute to 50 Memorable Minds

Two Lives of St Brigid

By Philip Freeman (Four Courts Press, €19.95)

We know virtually nothing about the historical Brigid except that she was born in mid-fifth-century Ireland, founded a monastery for women and men at Kildare and lived when Christianity was relatively new here. The two lives, given here in their original Latin and in English, are the Life of St Brigid by Cogitosus and the anonymous Vita Prima, both written more than 100 years after her death. The main difference between them is that Cogitosus claims primacy for the church at Kildare (never mentioning St Patrick) rather than the rival ecclesiastical seat at Armagh, whereas the Vita Prima portrays Brigid as subordinate to Patrick, giving Armagh primacy. Both works are hagiographies, presenting Brigid’s life as a series of miracles, proving her devotion to God, and are unreliable for biographical details.

Warriors, Rebels & Saints: The Art of Leadership

By Moshik Temkin (Profile Books, £18.99)

Attempting to answer whether leaders make history (Machiavelli) or history makes leaders (Marx), Moshik Temkin mostly avoids the big, well-known, expected names, instead concentrating on “warriors” (who fight for rights and liberty), “rebels” (who fight dictators) and “saints” (who show extreme selflessness), from biblical times to the present. Clara Lemlich (a Ukrainian Jewish immigrant) and Leonora O’Reilly (child of Great Famine Irish immigrants) were warriors who fought for workers’ rights and women’s suffrage in early 20th-century New York. As well as Gandhi, BR Ambedkar, a rebel from the “untouchable” Hindu caste, fought for Indian independence against imperial oppression, yes, but also against the oppressive caste system. Martin Luther King argued we are all interdependent, in stark contrast to Margaret Thatcher’s “no such thing as society”. Very readable and thought-provoking.

Homage: A Salute to 50 Memorable Minds

By John Quinn (Veritas, €24.99)

During his 27-year RTÉ radio broadcasting career, John Quinn interviewed people from varied fields, such as the arts, education, politics, business, science, economics, and here he pays tribute to 50 of them with excerpts from interviews, talks and writings they made available to him. He provides background on each contributor and contextualises their contributions. Highlights include Jonathan Bardon’s potted history of Ulster; Maeve Binchy’s tips for aspiring writers (two unusual ones of which are eavesdrop on conversations and learn to lip-read); Michael Coady’s beautiful poem “The Letter”; Gerry Fitt’s summary of his career; Brendan Kennelly on how his Kerry childhood shaped him; Dervla Murphy on how she developed her twin passions of cycling and travelling, and, above all, Gordon Wilson’s deeply moving piece on his beloved daughter Marie.