They did the same in Argentina and I think in Chile to colonise the land, prison colonies first.
Apparently they used to send prisoners to America originally to work as slaves but after the war of independence that stopped, the prisons in England became too crowded which is how they hit on the idea of Australia.
What I want to know is who the fuck asked her in the first place?
Just finished last years Booker Prize winner. I enjoyed it though its a very bare and sort of emotionless book. I just read the author said he wrote it in homage to ‘Barry Lyndon’ which makes sense.
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Read that a while back, not one of the stronger booker winners I thought. I didn’t think it was emotionless, the emotion was marked by not ever being mentioned, wasn’t that the point? (“You have to listen to the notes he’s not playing.”) Who’s Barry lyndon?
I know what ur saying but i still found it cold but having said that i finished it a week ago and I’m still thinking about it.
Barry Lyndon is a 19th century novel made into a really good film by Stanley Kubrick.
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It is a very odd book. I listened to it and enjoyed it…but no idea what message or what it was actually trying to do
A harrowing read. The research and attention to detail is extraordinary.
It’s frightening in its detail of the affect on townlands, parishes and villages.
I think they’re @farmerinthecity ancestors on the cover ….
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Highly readable account of how the Communist Party took over China. Controversial though because the author, Frank Dikotter evidently hates the Communist Party.
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A good book, highly readable, but a grim story. The Nazis were cunts, we all know that, deliberately setting out to starve a city to death is as bad as it gets. But the corruption, cynicism and incompetence of the Communist Party apparatchiks is breathtaking bringing Animal Farm immediately to mind.
This is a recently published short (264 pages) history of Ireland from pre history to the present day. It’s part of a series of short histories of countries. I’ve read the French one and the German one. It’s probably not surprising how much of the history of the country I’ve forgotten or never knew.
Fans of De Valera won’t like it cc @Chancer and to add insult to injury it quotes Tim Pat Coogan (who hated Dev) as the source for some of the more scurrilous comments. Fintan O’Toole also quoted as a source elsewhere so proceed with caution.
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Definitely proceed with caution!
I’m just about finished and read the Fintan O’Toole quote last night
Jaysus this fella skewers Dev alright for about 40 of those pages,
I think it’s fair to say it’s an absolutely terrible book though, very little context provided which is understandable when you try to cram so much into a small book
The story of how Ireland maintained neutrality during World War 2 under immense pressure from Churchill was fascinating. Dev stood up then.
Mind you sending a letter of sympathy to the Germans after Hitler’s death wasn’t the wisest move probably.
Getting back the Treaty Ports before the war looks like a stroke of genius now and an absolute act of madness by the Brits. We would have had no option to join the war on the British side if they had held on to them. We would have been absolutely levelled if we had joined the war on the British side. I dread to think what would have become us.
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Just as well he didn’t send one so.
I started two Amazon Kindle free samples the other day.
One is the Geezer Butler book. (of Black Sabbath fame). I never knew he was of strong Irish stock. The free bit I read was entertaining so I might stick with this one.
The other book is “Charlie One” by Sean Hartnett, a Cork fella who joins the British army in 1998. You’d have to have had a bit of a want in you to be joining the British army being from a Republican background from Cork. I am not sure if I will stick with it. In theory, the background is interesting: An Irish fella joins the British army just as the IRA stops being active. On the other hand, he was working with black ops type units in the north, so not sure I could put up with him telling tales about his time with a bunch of utter cunts doing utter cuntish things. From what I briefly read elsewhere, he seems to justify the cuntish behaviour of the FRU with the argument that the IRA and UVF were doing the same.
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