Countdown to 2016: Sport in Frongoch

In January 1914 James Nowlan, president of the GAA, advised every member to join the Irish Volunteers and ‘learn to shoot straight’. Nowlan took his own advice and, as a […]

Galway: politics and society, 1910–23

In the historiography of the Irish revolution, the idea that is often conveyed is that the violence was confined to a few areas: Dublin at the epicentre, with periodic eruptions […]

A history of Irish ballet from 1927 to 1963

Victoria O’Brien’s book provides much-needed insight into the development of ballet in Dublin in the middle of the last century, presenting a most interesting first survey of the activities and […]

Ridgeway: the American Fenian invasion and the 1866 battle that made Canada

At 2am on Friday 1 June 1866, Colonel John O’Neill led a Fenian army across the Niagara River to invade Canada. Tactically O’Neill was triumphant; strategically, however, everything went wrong. […]

Showdown at Shepherd’s Bush: the 1908 Olympic marathon and the three runners who launched a sporting craze

Two of the competitors featured in this book had strong Irish connections. The pre-race favourite, Tom Longboat, was a Canadian First Nations athlete who was trained by Pat Flanagan of […]