The Black & Tans 1920-1921 – A Complete List, Short History and Genealogical Guide by Jim Herlihy.

Rightfully described as ‘Ireland’s foremost authority on the history of Irish policing and police…

Colm Herron knows all about The Troubles. He lived through them. Protested his way through them. Now he reveals a slice of the chaos that pitted friends and neighbors and family against each other. In his current book, activist Anna leads naive teacher Robert through local battles and through the joys and complexities of his first-time-ever love. As…

THE LABOUR HERCULES: The Irish Citizen Army and Irish Republicanism 1913-1923

[Irish Academic Press ISBN: 9781788550741]

Jeffrey Leddin’s latest book charts the rise and activities of Irish Labour’s first urban working-class militia. The Irish…

I’m celebrating new membership in The Wild Geese. Recently I read Colm Herron’s A Maiden So Bewitching and asked him if I might post a comment. Having read other of his books and essays, how could I help but notice right away that this is something different – totally different – from his earlier…

Because I once lived in a small town in Connemara, at the gateway of the Irish-speaking area called the Gaeltacht, I look for those novels that depict the region as it is, for once one has spent significant time there, its ways and means register in the soul with perpetual resonance, leaving one forever nostalgic for…

I’ve been following author Billy O’Callaghan’s career with rapt enthusiasm, since I fortuitously came across him online, last year. That he is Irish caught my attention, and as I delved further, I discovered he is the author of three short story collections, all of which I’ve read, all of which, to me, are in their own…

By Patricia Jameson-Sammartano

WG Culture Editor

(This review was first produced in 2007, when Pat Jameson served as our culture editor. She died in April 2012.)

Setting: A shabby two-story house, in a suburb north of Dublin, on Christmas Eve. We had originally thought that a play about five drunken…

In 2008, Radovan Karadžić, the ‘Butcher of Bosnia,’ was captured in Belgrade and went on to be convicted by an international tribunal, of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Heavily bearded and with his distinctively abundant white hair styled in a…

Invite a seanchaí into your home . . . you will be glad that you did. With Jim Hawkins new CD, My Own Native Land: Stories and Songs of Ireland, that has never been easier. Hawkins’ debut album will carry you across the miles, over the waters and back in time.

When a colleague suggested that I review “My Own…

“The Wolf and the Shield: An Adventure with Saint Patrick” by Sherry Weaver Smith, reads like a heartwarming parable. Although it is ostensibly a children’s story, ideal for ages seven through twelve, this lovely book hit all the requisite high notes to hold my rapt attention: that it is set in…

Himself: A Civil War Veteran's Struggles with Rebels, Brits and Devils.  By William J. Donohue 319 pp., 2014 Buffalo Heritage Press www.BuffaloHeritage.com, softcover $19.99…

TITLE: Irish Hunger and Migration: Myth, Memory and Memorialisation…

The film "Spotlight" was recently released, based on the true story of the Boston Globe’s investigation of the Boston Archdiocese’s willful coverup of child molestation and abuse. The reviews have been, like the movie itself, scattered.

This is, without a doubt, a shattering film. Well made and well acted, it…

There is a moment in "Brooklyn" -- the recently released 1950s period semi-romance -- when one naive and worried young Irishwoman turns to a slightly less naive and worried young Irishwoman and asks her what America will be like. The response is heartfelt, immediate, true and not quite true, all at once: "Like Ireland,…

The great Irish American journalist Pete Hamill will be our guest on Saturday December 5 at 12 Noon New York time. We will talk about his book Why Sinatra Matters which is being re-issued in time for the centenary of Sinatra's birth. Pete has written a new introduction for this edition.

I watched "The Bloody Irish: Songs of the 1916 Rising" on PBS Channel 21 last night.

The music -- great! The singers -- fabulous! The "history," especially the scenes in the GPO -- the less said the better. But it's the politics that really matter.

This show was made in Ireland for broadcast on PBS.…

Éamon de Valera: A Will to Power

By Ronan Fanning

Faber…

"Shane O’Neill – 'The Grand Disturber' of Elizabethan Ireland" is Brian…

So many of the stories which come to us out of Ireland are, quite simply, sad. From James Joyce's "The Dead" to Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes," we read of people who are, if not figuratively, then literally, impoverished. It is a lovely…

No matter how good a cupcake is, when you are expecting a full dessert, it can be disappointing.

Which was my reaction on seeing the award-winning (very) short film "Spiorad na Samhna -- Spirit of Samhain," advertised as exploring “the origins of Halloween in Ireland.” By…