-
Refusing the Royal Irish: How Fenian Panic and Financial Crisis Ended Brisbane's British Garrison
In 1869, Queensland made an extraordinary decision: it declined to subsidise a British Army regiment earmarked for Brisbane's Petrie Terrace barracks. Driven principally by…
-
Ed Sheeran, Caxton Street and the Limits of Celebrity Politics
I don't particularly like Ed Sheeran's music. I think Steve Earle wrote the better "Galway Girl", and one of Ed's Brisbane concerts once cost me a $140 parking fine. Yet…
-
My Generation Was the Last to Leave Ireland
My generation lived through the end of exile. We left Ireland before smartphones, social media, livestreams and FaceTime transformed emigration into a permanently connected…
-
Ryan's Daughter and the Invention of Rural Ireland: Myth, Memory, Synge, and David Lean's Irish West
When Ryan's Daughter was released in 1970, many critics regarded it as a disappointment. Coming after Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, audiences expected another…
-
Myth, Memory, and the American Frontier: Hollywood, Native Military Success, and the Indian Wars
From Errol Flynn's romanticized George Armstrong Custer to the cavalry westerns of John Ford and John Wayne, the revisionism of Soldier Blue, and the Indigenous-centred…
-
The Diaspora's Guide to the Politics of the Irish Republic From Civil War Rivals to Coalition Politics: Understanding Modern Ireland
Why does Ireland have two centre-right parties? Why are coalition governments the norm? And how did Sinn Féin go from political outsider to a realistic contender for power?…
-
The Pope, the King and St George: A Small Ceremony with a Long Memory
Five centuries after the Reformation severed ties between Rome and the English Crown, a little-understood honour exchanged between Pope Leo XIV and King Charles III offers a…
-
John Francis Flynn and the Myth of the "Returned Yank"
-
This Week in the History of the Irish: October 25 - October 31
LUAIN -- On Oct. 26, 1771, John (Juan) MacKenna, who would rise to fame in South America, was born in Clogher, County Tyrone. MacKenna was related to Gen. Alexander O'Reilly,…
-
Flags of Convenience? The Diaspora Doesn't Need Fintan O'Toole's Permission
First drafted during the Covid lockdowns of 2021 but left unpublished, this article remains as relevant today as it was then. The Brexit passport debate exposed a lingering…
