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Michael William Balfe (1808-1870) rose to fame in London in 1835 immediately after the premiere of his first opera, The Siege of Rochelle. For the next thirty-five years, this unique Dublin-born musician was destined to be the most important operatic composer in Victorian Britain. He was to music in Victorian Britain what his renowned contemporary, Charles Dickens, was to literature. The popularity of their respected works reached far beyond London, Dublin, and New York in the English speaking world. Balfe also personally achieved great success in places such as Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Bologna, Palermo, Trieste, and St. Petersburg in Russia. In all, he composed twenty-eight operatic works over his lifetime. However, when his French, Italian, and German language versions are added, he actually can be credited with forty-three operas. For over fifty years, his opera, The Bohemian Girl, swept around the globe with great success, having been translated into many different languages. This definitive biography took seven years of international research and is long overdue. It corrects many anecdotal errors of previous books. It documents Balfe the man, his work, his descendents, his legacy, and influence. The biography unearths many new facts about this important Victorian composer, his music, his family, and his role as a music director at London's Italian Opera House, where he directed the local premieres of several Verdi operas. It lists all of his operas with premiere casts and the principal arias. It also identifies the current location of all known Balfe's scores and music, including his early Italian compositions which have been deemed "lost" by most scholars. ~
This is the first-ever biography of Emmet Dalton, an American-born Dubliner, Home Ruler and later Republican, whose extraordinary military career as a British officer, IRA leader and General in the Free State army brought him from Flanders to Beal na Bláth. A decorated hero of the Battle of the Somme, he returned from the war with the rank of Captain and transferred his military expertise to the now rampant IRA, serving as Director of Training, and greatly impressing Michael Collins with his extraordinary daring and nerve. Soon befriending Collins and becoming his close confidante, he accompanied him to the Treaty talks in London in 1921, and in the Civil War that followed Dalton oversaw the bombardment of the Four Courts, personally manning an 18-pounder artillery gun. He then masterminded and led the audacious seaborne landings and successful recapture of Cork City and Munster Republic from Anti-Treaty forces, but was ultimately traumatised when Collins died in his arms at Beal na Bláith. In his expansive biography, Sean Boyne vividly portrays Dalton's experiences and the vital role he played in the politics and wars that created the independent Irish state. Dalton was the first Senate Clerk and he became a pioneer of the Irish film world, founding Ardmore film studios and establishing the Irish Film industry. An attractive and high-achieving figure in Irish life in war and peace, Dalton's heroism allowed him to live his many lives to the full, and this compelling biography does justice to a figure who will captivate all those interested in modern Irish history and the birth of the state.
Seán Hartnett grew up in Cork in the 1970s where he observed the worst of the northern Troubles with fascination. Despite his family s strong republican ties and his own attempt to join the IRA, Hartnett shocked family and friends when he changed allegiance and joined the British Armed Forces. In 2001 Hartnett returns to his native Ireland, but this time as a member of the British Army s most secretive covert counter-terrorist unit in Northern Ireland, Joint Communications Unit Northern Ireland aka JCU-NI, the FRU, 14 Intelligence Company, or simply The Det . For the next three years Hartnett is directly involved in some of the highest profile events of that period, from the arrest of John Hannan for the bombing of the BBC in London, to the tragic murder of David Caldwell; the prevention of the murder of Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair and some of the biggest blunders by British Intelligence in the history of the Troubles, including the true story behind the murders of Corporals Howes and Wood at an IRA funeral in 1988. Charlie One , the call sign for the most wanted targets of British Intelligence operations in NI, documents the journey of an Irish Republican serving in Britain s most secretive counter-terrorism unit. Filled with roller coaster emotions and explosive revelations of British Intelligence covert capabilities and operations, Charlie One provides a truly unique, detailed and unbiased account of the secret war fought on the streets of Northern Ireland.
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"This is the first biographical work of one of the chief policymakers to have served the independent Irish state. It is the only scholarly biography (apart from Sean Lemass) of a senior Fianna Fail minister prominent in every de Valera administration." "Sean MacEntee was in many ways a unique political personality. He was the most senior politician in the independent Irish state to have been born in what became Northern Ireland. Moreover, he was a fiercely independent thinker whose written contribution to the public life of the state was considerable, reflecting his insatiable interest in all aspects of government policy, not merely those for which he bore ultimate responsibility. An assessment of MacEntee's life offers a unique opportunity to convey the full force of ministerial thought over a period of four decades in government and provides a comprehensive record of the main aspects of public policymaking since the foundation of the state." --Book Jacket.
This is the first comprehensive analysis of how Sinn Féin has transformed itself from ‘political wing’ of the Republican movement to a mainstream force in Irish politics. In this book by one of Ireland’s leading political journalists, Deaglán de Bréadún provides an incisive account of how the party has arrived at a position, in the space of one generation, where it is in power north of the border and knocking on the door of government in the south. Despite recent controversies and scandals arising from alleged sexual abuse by republican activists, and the violent legacies of the Troubles, the party has maintained its popularity. The outsiders have now become insiders in the political game. How did this dramatic transformation come about? Based on detailed research as well as interviews with a wide range of figures inside Sinn Féin and across the Irish political spectrum, Deaglán de Bréadún unveils a fascinating and indispensable analysis of a party that has come in from the cold. The book also draws on the author’s experiences covering the Northern Ireland peace process as well as politics in the Republic for many years, to reveal the most fascinating and unmissable political story of 2015.
Clonmel borstal in county Tipperary was the first and only such institution in Ireland and opened in 1906 for the purpose of reforming male offenders aged between sixteen and twenty-one years. The book also provides comparisons between the administration of the system by the British government prior to Independence and the Irish state after 1921. Two key periods, from 1922-24 and from 1940-46, when the borstal was removed from Clonmel for military purposes, are examined. The book explores the renewed government interest and investment in the borstal in the aftermath of the 'Father Flanagan controversy', following its return to Clonmel in 1946. With signs that the system might finally be on course to fulfill its potential, a number of factors ensured that this optimism was to be short-lived and in 1956 Clonmel borstal ceased operations and the institution was transferred to Dublin. Reidy utilises primarily unpublished official sources to analyse the daily operation of Clonmel borstal.
This first complete edition of Patrick Pearse's extant plays (in English and Irish) also includes his most significant writings about the nature of the theatre in early 20th-century Ireland. His plays were highlights of the Cultural Revival and drew a who's who of literary and political figures to productions in St. Enda's, the Abbey Theatre, and Jones Road (Croke Park) in the years preceding the 1916 Easter Rising. Each work is annotated and illustrated with contemporary photographs, and each is placed in its historical, social, and political contexts. The book makes Pearse's plays readily available to those wishing to stage productions, and it also provides a complete reference source for those who seek a better understanding one of the iconic figures of the Easter Rising. The annotated plays and commentary provide fascinating insights into the cultural, imaginative, and intellectual life and times of a man who helped shape one of the defining moments in Irish history. Pearse's essays on the subject of the theatre and its role in the cultural work of Irish nationalism are also included. *** "[the book] draws attention to an often neglected aspect of the career of a man whose contemporary significance and subsequent legacy remains disputed almost one hundred years after his death....the editors are to be particularly commended for their bilingual, multidisciplinary approach to Pearse's work as a dramatist....the collection is consequently a major contribution to 'the momentum building towards the centenary year of 2016.' - Irish Literary Supplement, Vol.34, No.1, Fall 2014Ã?Â?Ã?Â?