I have just purchased Diarmuid Ferriter’s “A nation and not a rabble. The Irish revolution 1913-1923”.
I haven’t read any of his books, but his op ed pieces in the Irish Times are very good so looking forward to this.
He is a shit writer in my opinion.
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I’m not sure of their stance, mate. Being academics they probably don’t have one.
He is not, Ferriter is the best current writer on Irish history, very accessible without sacrificing quality.
I said it was my opinion.
I’d agree with Fagan… Can’t take to his books at all. No doubting his knowledge and in-depth research, but his writing does nothing for me.
Which is precisely why I will probably enjoy and understand it.
I think his Transformation 1900-2000 is one of the best Irish history books published, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it over any other for somebody looking to get to grips with 20th century Ireland,
Culture, politics, sport, it’s all there.
His Dev book was well put together, very well illustrated, I also enjoyed his 70s book though I haven’t read it in it’s entirety.
I won’t comment on his writing style other than to say that I find him to be very clear, I also enjoy listening to him, he’s an excellent commentator.
Dull and flaccid. He is incapable of injecting a bit of life into his topics.
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Thought that was very good as well. Wouldn’t say it was a masterclass in writing or anything but lots of interesting episodes stitched together well.
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Up there with Kiberd’s ‘inventing Ireland’
A fine book, the snobs won’t like that it sold well
In general I would make the observation that Ferriter is too busy writing best selling books and promoting them on RTe to be an actual historian or to fine tune his writing craft.
You know when a book is used as a general text book in all Universities then it’s bland enough.
OMG … I had an in-depth look at this archive today. I don’t think there’s a word in the English language to describe its significance… It’s Unrale. What you’re looking at here isn’t official government papers, it’s anti-treaty IRA and there’s stacks of them that were all thought destroyed or never known to exist. Plenty signed by Liam Lynch himself… That was only 2 out of 9 boxes… All kinds of other stuff I can’t even talk about.
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Is there an UnOfficial Secrets Act for the pretend Ra lads?
I’m not sure … But there is for the state, the Irish army, the British army and possibly some kind of legal issues surrounding individuals and their families today who may not be happy to discover granddad was a spy of the anti-treaty side etc.
Is this the only item mentioned so far for tv commemoration of the first Dail?
Fintan O’Toole: The 1918 election was an amazing moment for Ireland (via @IrishTimes) https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/fintan-o-toole-the-1918-election-was-an-amazing-moment-for-ireland-1.3719853
I see RTE are doing an election special during the week on the first Dail election .
Could be a good idea but the trailer looks more like an ad for the wardrobe dept