The Aftermath of Revolution. Sligo 1921-23. By Michael Farry. University College Dublin Press. £39.95 hbk/£16.95 pbk
This detailed book is based on a dissertation submitted to the Department of Modern History, TCD and is the first systematic study of a county during the period from the Truce in the War of Independence to the end of the Civil War. As the title implies it is concerned more with the after-effects of the two wars, but it does also include a good narrative history of both conflicts as they affected Co Sligo. Essentially, however, it examines the socio-economic and political consequences of the Civil War and paints a vivid picture of events as they affected the general populace. In the War of Independence Sligo had been berated by headquarters for a lack of activity, but strangely, was one of the most troublesome areas in the country during the Civil War. Farry delves into the reasons for this, and the result is a readable, informative and even entertaining study, a model of its kind.
Surplus People. The Fitzwilliam Clearances 1847-1856. By Jim Rees. The Collins Press. £9.99
Described as a "good landlord", the fifth Earl Fitzwilliam nevertheless was responsible for "clearing" 6,000 men, women and children from his 80,000-acre estate in south-west Wicklow between the years 1847 and 1856. The Great Famine, with its concomitant poverty and destitution, provided one of the reasons for the clearances - another, more pressing, one was Fitzwilliam's policy of consolidating the smaller holdings on his estate into larger units. In his case most of the evicted tenants were given "assisted passages" to Canada, taking ship from New Ross, Co Wexford but arriving in Quebec and New Brunswick stricken with typhus, destitute and without proper clothing. What happened to them then forms the greater part of this well-researched and very readable book. Jim Rees has provided a valuable addition to Famine historiography with this examination of one catastrophic episode of the period. Well-meaning though Fitzwilliam may have been, his name and the Coolattin "clearances" reverberate in local memory to this day.
Ways of Old: Traditional Life in Ireland. By Olive Sharkey. O'Brien Press. £10.99
Nostalgia must still be prevalent among the reading public, if one is to judge by the frequency with which Olive Sharkey's classic Ways of Old has been reprinted. Originally published in 1985, it has been reprinted in 1986, 1987, 1991 and 1994. And here comes another ("revised and enlarged") edition, with all the little sketches (by the author herself) and some photographs to brighten up the appealing pages. Sadly but inevitably the remains of that traditional material culture, so vividly captured in this book, are no longer to be found, except in museums and folk-parks.
Castle Archdale and Fermanagh in World War II. By Breege McCusker. Necarne Press. £10 in UK.
When Breege McCusker's history of the British Coastal Command base at Castle Archdale during the second World War was first published in 1993, it was hailed as a social history of the period in Co Fermanagh and as "a role model of its type". This is a reprint with eight appendices giving further data on the base, its occupants and its losses. The base was a truly international one, with English, Irish (from North and South), Canadians, New Zealanders and Americans literally invading this beautiful part of Co Fermanagh to wage war on the German U-boats in the North Atlantic. The book is replete with the stuff of local history, augmented by many photographs and personal reminiscences. Some readers may be surprised at the extent of cross-Border collaboration at the time, extending to the basing of a British rescue boat in Killybegs, Co Donegal in neutral "Eire". This is a book full of local colour as well as a thoroughly researched history of the flying-boat base and concomitant events in that part of Ireland during the last war.
Richard Roche is a local historian, author and critic