Wrapping up the AMA from earlier this week. Thank you all for your questions, and I apologize if I didn’t get to all of them. Here are a handful related to Ireland.
conor_evans asks:
(1) Your book recommendations for 19th–20th century Irish history
(2) If you were senior IRB in 1916, do you side with Clarke or Hobson?
For a total sweep of Irish history, I recommend Thomas Bartlett’s Ireland: A History and J. J. Lee’s Ireland 1912–1985, especially the final essay. Also, his book The Modernisation of Irish Society 1848–1918. Some others I like, Fatal Path by Ronan Fanning, a gripping narrative of English policy in Ireland between 1912 and 1922. Anything by Charles Townshend is going to be highly readable even if I disagree with his gloss on some events. Fearghal McGarry’s book The Rising is quite good. Sometimes autobiography is great — Dublin Made Me by C. S. Andrews and Paul Bew’s Ireland: The Politics of Enmity, 1789–2006 are really useful.
To your second question: I gotta be honest with myself. There is a quote from a letter or essay Eoin MacNeill wrote before the Rising (which I cannot now locate) where he outlined the conditions in which a rebellion might be successful and chastised those Irish Volunteers who were rushing things, driven by mere “slogans” or the need to satisfy an emotional impulse. I found his logic impeccable, his psychological description of the revolutionaries persuasive, and his application of just-war theory unassailable. So, probably Hobson. It’s hard to know which side of my character would prevail: the one that is punctilious about the justice of war, or the romantic revolutionary. Halfway through Easter week, MacNeill thought of taking his place with his Volunteers.
Thirsty Ogre asks:
Give me some out-of-the box ideas for my two-week vacation to Ireland (Limerick, Dublin) in early August.
The best part of traveling to Ireland is interacting with Irish people, I think. It’s not original to recommend a pub, but please do yourself a favor and do one night at O’Donoghue’s. They usually have great music at night. It’s a long lived and loved institution. If not there, Piper’s Corner. Might be a bit somber, but if you’re into history, get a tour at Kilmainham Gaol. Some of the basic stuff is worth doing in Dublin: See the library at Trinity College and the Book of Kells if it’s being exhibited. Learn to play hurling. Not far beyond Dublin, if you’re looking for a moment of peace, I would visit Jimi Blake’s Hunting Brook Gardens and his sister June Blake’s quite different garden at Blessington, if you go for that sort of thing.
In Limerick? See a Munster rug match. I haven’t been to Limerick since I was a very young child. Sorry. Maybe try Adare, nearby.
john_derwin asks for more tour-guide help:
I’m vacationing in Ireland in a couple of weeks, Dingle specifically. Any recommendations?
Driving the Ring of Kerry is its own challenge and reward, depending on the weather. I loved it. But I love just wandering around towns and choosing a restaurant and pub at random. Dingle Distillery and Murphy’s Ice Cream is a good date.
For me, Ireland’s great charm is the people and the beauty of the natural landscapes. The weather has to cooperate a little for the latter.