February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
DEATH OF A SOLDIER, A
MOTHER’S SEARCH FOR
PEACE IN NORTHERN IRELAND
Rita Restorick
Twenty-three-year-old Stephen Restorick was shot dead by an IRA sniper on Feb. 12, 1997 as he manned a checkpoint in South Armagh. He was the last British soldier to be killed in Northern Ireland. This book, published to mark the third anniversary of his death, has been written by his mother, Rita. It conveys the heart-rending grief of a mother not embittered but moved to work to further peace in the North. She writes that the last time she saw her son alive was on St. Stephen’s Day 1996. This, she said, led her to use as a guiding light the words spoken by St. Stephen when he was killed, "Don’t blame them." Blackstaff Press, distributed by Dufour Editions, Chester Springs, Pa. ([610] 458-5005). 240 pp. $19.95.
CONTEMPORARY NORTHERN IRISH
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SOCIETY, AN INTRODUCTION
Colin Coulter
In his introduction, Coulter, a sociology lecturer at the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, points out that the intention of the book is to offer an overview of the social formation that exists at present within the Six Counties. He considers the way in which ethnoreligious status, class and gender affect the thoughts, feelings and actions of people in the North and he tries to explain why ethnoreligious sentiment has become the principal source of political identity. Pluto Press (www.plutobooks.com). 286 pp.
THE CRAIC, A JOURNEY
THROUGH IRELAND
Mark McCrum
Starting in Dublin, travel writer Mark McCrum roamed south and west along the coast of Ireland before heading north over the border to find the now derelict home of his great-grandfathers. Driving and walking, on trains and buses, he met an array of people, from Anglo-Irish gentry to new age travelers, from hard-line IRA men to UFF terrorists, from Frank the goat catcher to then presidential candidate Dana, now a member of the European Parliament. This book is the product of those travels, meetings and conversations. From Phoenix, distributed by Trafalgar Square, No. Pomfret, Vermont (www.trafalgarsquarebooks.com). 416 pp. $15.95.
VERSE IN ENGLISH FROM
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY IRELAND
Edited by Andrew Carpenter
This anthology contains the work of well-known figures such as John Toland, Thomas Parnell, Jonathan Swift, Patrick Delany, L’titia Pilkington and Oliver Goldsmith. It also includes many voices unknown to modern readers, as well as nearly 80 anonymous poems selected from manuscripts and from the broadsheets and chapbooks of the time. What emerges is a new perspective on life in 18th Century Ireland. Andrew Carpenter teaches English at University College in Dublin. From Cork University Press, distributed by Stylus Publishing. 640 pp. $29.95.